Improvement of flexural bond strength of zirconia-resin cement by surface patterning using sub-nanosecond UV laser

Zirconia is a dental material that shows excellent biocompatibility and high strength in clinical applications. This study aims to evaluate the effects of ultrafast laser applications. The surface nanostructures were classified into three groups. Group 1 was generated using the burst mode, with three different distances between dots: 52 µm (Group 1a), 104 µm (Group 1b), and 156 µm (Group 1c). Group 2 was processed using the scanning mode configuration, with a set of parallel lines. Group 3 was also processed using this scanning configuration creating a set of square-shaped patterning. Group 4 was the control group. After the surface treatments, a pair of zirconia specimens was bonded end to end with resin cement. Flexural bond strength (FBS) test was applied in a universal test machine. Multiple comparisons were performed using a one-way analysis of variance and the Tukey's HSD test. All the samples that were treated with the laser showed higher FBS values than the untreated surface. Using the burst mode, preformed circular-shaped surface on an angle of 90⁰ at 52 µm distance (Group 1a) showed the highest FBS values among all groups (p < .05). Groups 2 and 3 had significantly higher values than 1b and 1c.     

Design of a Commercial Hybrid VTOL UAV System

For the last four decades Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) have been extensively used for military operations that include tracking, surveillance, active engagement with weapons and airborne data acquisition. UAVs are also in demand commercially due to their advantages in comparison to manned vehicles. These advantages include lower manufacturing and operating costs, flexibility in configuration depending on customer request and not risking the pilot on demanding missions. Even though civilian UAVs currently constitute 3 % of the UAV market, it is estimated that their numbers will reach up to 10 % of the UAV market within the next 5 years. Most of the civilian UAV applications require UAVs that are capable of doing a wide range of different and complementary operations within a composite mission. These operations include taking off and landing from limited runway space, while traversing the operation region in considerable cruise speed for mobile tracking applications. This is in addition to being able traverse in low cruise speeds or being able to hover for stationary measurement and tracking. All of these complementary and but different operational capabilities point to a hybrid unmanned vehicle concept, namely the Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAVs. In addition, the desired UAV system needs to be cost-efficient while providing easy payload conversion for different civilian applications. In this paper, we review the preliminary design process of such a capable civilian UAV system, namely the TURAC VTOL UAV. TURAC UAV is aimed to have both vertical take-off and landing and Conventional Take-off and Landing (CTOL) capability. TURAC interchangeable payload pod and detachable wing (with potential different size variants) provides capability to perform different mission types, including long endurance and high cruise speed operations. In addition, the TURAC concept is to have two different variants. The TURAC A variant is an eco-friendly and low-noise fully electrical platform which includes 2 tilt electric motors in the front, and a fixed electric motor and ducted fan in the rear, where as the TURAC B variant is envisioned to use high energy density fuel cells for extended hovering time. In this paper, we provide the TURAC UAV’s iterative design and trade-off studies which also include detailed aerodynamic and structural configuration analysis. For the aerodynamic analysis, an in-house software including graphical user interface has been developed to calculate the aerodynamic forces and moments by using the Vortex Lattice Method (VLM). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies are performed to determine the aerodynamic effects for various configurations For structural analysis, a Finite Element Model (FEM) of the TURAC has been prepared and its modal analysis is carried out. Maximum displacements and maximal principal stresses are calculated and used for streamlining a weight efficient fuselage design. Prototypes have been built to show success of the design at both hover and forward flight regime. In this paper, we also provide the flight management and autopilot architecture of the TURAC. The testing of the controller performance has been initiated with the prototype of TURAC. Current work focuses on the building of the full fight test prototype of the TURAC UAV and aerodynamic modeling of the transition flight.     

Comparative study in chemistry of microbially and electrochemically induced pitting of 316L stainless steel

Ennoblement of stainless steel (SS) by microbially deposited manganese oxides can lead to pitting corrosion at low chloride concentrations, causing unexpected material failures. We exposed 316L SS to manganese oxidizing bacteria Leptothrix discophora under well-defined laboratory conditions, and then placed the ennobled coupons in a 0.5 M sodium chloride solution until pitting developed. Using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy we demonstrated that the pits and their immediate vicinity associated with microbial influenced corrosion had different chemical signatures than those associated with electrochemically induced pitting, suggesting a possibility that the microorganisms were directly involved in pit initiation. Based on the differences in the chemical signatures we were able to distinguish the microbially induced pits from those induced by anodic polarization.     

An automatic diabetes diagnosis system based on LDA-Wavelet Support Vector Machine Classifier

In this paper, an automatic diagnosis system for diabetes on Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Morlet Wavelet Support Vector Machine Classifier: LDA–MWSVM is introduced. The structure of this automatic system based on LDA-MWSVM for the diagnosis of diabetes is composed of three stages: The feature extraction and feature reduction stage by using the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) method and the classification stage by using Morlet Wavelet Support Vector Machine (MWSVM) classifier stage. The Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is used to separate features variables between healthy and patient (diabetes) data in the first stage. The healthy and patient (diabetes) features obtained in the first stage are given to inputs of the MWSVM classifier in the second stage. Finally, in the third stage, the correct diagnosis performance of this automatic system based on LDA–MWSVM for the diagnosis of diabetes is calculated by using sensitivity and specificity analysis, classification accuracy, and confusion matrix, respectively. The classification accuracy of this system was obtained at about 89.74%.     

The speaker identification by using genetic wavelet adaptive network based fuzzy inference system

In this paper, an intelligent speaker identification system is presented for speaker identification by using speech/voice signal. This study includes both combination of the adaptive feature extraction and classification by using optimum wavelet entropy parameter values. These optimum wavelet entropy values are obtained from measured Turkish speech/voice signal waveforms using speech experimental set. It is developed a genetic wavelet adaptive network based on fuzzy inference system (GWANFIS) model in this study. This model consists of three layers which are genetic algorithm, wavelet and adaptive network based on fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The genetic algorithm layer is used for selecting of the feature extraction method and obtaining the optimum wavelet entropy parameter values. In this study, one of the eight different feature extraction methods is selected by using genetic algorithm. Alternative feature extraction methods are wavelet decomposition, wavelet decomposition – short time Fourier transform, wavelet decomposition – Born–Jordan time–frequency representation, wavelet decomposition – Choi–Williams time–frequency representation, wavelet decomposition – Margenau–Hill time–frequency representation, wavelet decomposition – Wigner–Ville time–frequency representation, wavelet decomposition – Page time–frequency representation, wavelet decomposition – Zhao–Atlas–Marks time–frequency representation. The wavelet layer is used for optimum feature extraction in the time–frequency domain and is composed of wavelet decomposition and wavelet entropies. The ANFIS approach is used for evaluating to fitness function of the genetic algorithm and for classification speakers. It has been evaluated the performance of the developed system by using noisy Turkish speech/voice signals. The test results showed that this system is effective in detecting real speech signals. The correct classification rate is about 91% for speaker classification.     

Gas chromatographic-olfactometric characterization of aroma active compounds in sun-dried and vacuum-dried tarhana

The influence of drying methods on the aroma active volatiles of sun-dried tarhana (SDT) and vacuum-dried tarhana (VDT) were compared using headspace SPME, GC-O and GC-MS. Although vacuum drying reduced the total amount of volatiles as compared to SDT (total FID peak area), more aroma active material was retained with VDT (total olfactory peak area). Vacuum drying retained a greater number of aroma active components (41) whereas the sun-dried method retained only 23. Aldehydes were the largest single class of aroma compounds in both types of tarhana: 17 in VDT and 10 in SDT. Other differentiating aroma compounds include alcohols, terpenes, and phenols such as geraniol, terpinolene, and 4-vinylguaiacol among others. A total of 22 aroma active components were present in greater amounts in the VDT versus only four aroma compounds present in greater amounts in the SDT.     

The effect of liposome on dyeing mohair/wool blends

The aim of this study was to examine the use of liposome in the dyeing of wool and mohair fibres with acid dyestuffs. Soybean lecithin and cholesterol were used to form the liposome membrane utilised in the dyebath. Liposome production was performed according to the thin lipid layer method (Bangham Method) using a rotary evaporator. Two different forms of liposome were used for dyeing wool and mohair fibres. In its first form, liposome was utilised as an auxiliary agent, where it was added to a conventional dyebath at the beginning of the process. In its second form, dyes were encapsulated with liposome and then used in dyeing. The effects of these two different forms of liposome were compared with conventional dyeing. Dyeing was carried out at depths of shade of 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% using three different concentrations of liposome (0.33%, 0.66% and 1.33%). An analysis of K/S values, fastness to washing, and the alkali solubility of fibres was conducted. The fibre samples dyed in the presence of liposome exhibited very good fastness to light (grade 8). The wash fastness test results of the liposomal‐dyed samples were significantly better (grade 4‐5) than for those samples which were conventionally dyed. In the presence of liposome, the tensile strength of fibres was 20 gf, whereas it was 11 gf without liposomes.     

Enhancing exterior durability of jack pine by photo-stabilization of acrylic polyurethane coating using bark extract. Part 1: Effect of UV on color change and ATR–FT-IR analysis

Heat-treated wood is a value-added product but its exposure to various environmental factors leads to discoloration of wood surface due to the photochemical reactions. Discoloration has become an important economic problem for wood industries since product specifications are now more demanding. In addition, stricter environmental legislations necessitate the development of environmentally friendly transparent coatings with minimal use of chemicals which balances aesthetic and protection. In this study, the acrylic polyurethane coating was improved with the addition of natural antioxidant (bark extract) and lignin stabilizer alone or in combination to enhance the resistance of this coating to different weathering factors. An accelerated aging test was conducted with the aim of comparing the acrylic polyurethane coatings containing different additives with the commercially available pigmented solvent borne coating used by industry and organic UV absorbers. The modifications in chemical structure of coatings were characterized by ATR–FT-IR analysis. The color change data showed that the coating containing bark extract was the most effective and performed better than the industrial coating. However, the visual assessment showed that the coating containing bark extract and lignin stabilizer had the best performance. FT-IR analyses suggested that the chain scission reaction took place throughout the weathering but its effect was not significant for any of the coatings.