Thermal analysis of a ceramic coating diesel engine piston using 3-D finite element method

In this study, firstly, thermal analyses are investigated on a conventional (uncoated) diesel piston, made of aluminum silicon alloy and steel. Secondly, thermal analyses are performed on pistons, coated with MgO-ZrO₂ material by means of using a commercial code, namely ANSYS. Finally, the results of four different pistons are compared with each other. The effects of coatings on the thermal behaviors of the pistons are investigated. It has been shown that the maximum surface temperature of the coated piston with material which has low thermal conductivity is improved approximately 48% for the AlSi alloy and 35% for the steel.     

A note on double lacunary statistical $$\sigma$$-convergence of fuzzy numbers

Quite recently, Sava? (Appl Math Lett 21:134–141, 2008), defined the lacunary statistical analogue for double sequence \(X=\{X_{k,l}\}\) of fuzzy numbers as follows: a double sequence \(X=\{X_{k,l}\}\) is said to be lacunary P-statistically convergent to \(X_{0}\) provided that for each \(\epsilon >0\)

$ P-\lim_{r,s}\frac{1}{h_{r,s}}\left | \{(k,l)\in I_{r,s}: d(X_{k,l },X_0)\geq \epsilon\}\right|= 0. $

In this paper we introduce and study double lacunary \(\sigma\)-statistical convergence for sequence of fuzzy numbers and also we get some inclusion theorems.

     

Colour and COD removal from textile effluent by coagulation and advanced oxidation processes

The aim of this study was to compare the performance of coagulation, Fenton's oxidation (Fe²⁺/H₂O₂) and ozonation for the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour from biologically pretreated textile wastewater. FeSO₄ and FeCl₃ were used as coagulants at varying doses and varying colour removal efficiency was measured. For the Fenton process, COD and colour removal efficiencies were found to be 78% and 95% for the Fenton process, and to be 64% and 71% for the Fenton-like process (Fe³⁺/H₂O₂), respectively. Ozonation experiments were conducted at different initial pH values and fixed ozone doses. Ozonation resulted in 43% COD and 97% colour removal whereas these rates increased to 54% and 99% when 5 mg/l hydrogen peroxide was added to the wastewater before ozonation at the same dose. The operating costs of all proposed treatment systems were also evaluated in this study.     

Influence of pitch composition and surface properties of petroleum coke on their interaction during the preparation of carbon/carbon composites

The influence of pitch composition and surface properties of petroleum coke on the interaction of pitch and coke in the composite is studied. The adsorption results and EPR data indicate that recombination of paramagnetic centers and interaction of oxygen functional groups occur during the preparation of the composite. As a result of interaction between petroleum coke and pitch, polar compounds are concentrated in the adsorption layer. The baking criterion is used for the characterization of the baking ability of the pitches obtained as a result of different oxidation treatments of commercial coal tar pitch. It is determined that physico-chemical properties of the obtained pitches influence the value of the “baking criterion”. The kind of thermo-oxidation treatment of the parent pitch should be chosen hence achieving the maximum value of the baking criterion. For this purpose, the maximal part of the pitch has to take part in the adsorption layer.     

Kernel methods for software effort estimation

Analogy based estimation (ABE) generates an effort estimate for a new software project through adaptation of similar past projects (a.k.a. analogies). Majority of ABE methods follow uniform weighting in adaptation procedure. In this research we investigated non-uniform weighting through kernel density estimation. After an extensive experimentation of 19 datasets, 3 evaluation criteria, 5 kernels, 5 bandwidth values and a total of 2090 ABE variants, we found that: (1) non-uniform weighting through kernel methods cannot outperform uniform weighting ABE and (2) kernel type and bandwidth parameters do not produce a definite effect on estimation performance. In summary simple ABE approaches are able to perform better than much more complex approaches. Hence,—provided that similar experimental settings are adopted—we discourage the use of kernel methods as a weighting strategy in ABE.     

Comparing alternative classifiers for database marketing: The case of imbalanced datasets

There are various algorithms used for binary classification where the cases are classified into one of two non-overlapping classes. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is the most widely used metric to evaluate the performance of alternative binary classifiers. In this study, for the application domains where the high degree of imbalance is the main characteristic and the identification of the minority class is more important, we show that hit rate based measures are more correct to assess model performances and that they should be measured on out of time samples. We also try to identify the optimum composition of the training set. Logistic regression, neural network and CHAID algorithms are implemented for a real marketing problem of a bank and the performances are compared.     

Analysis of Serum Advanced Glycation Endproducts Reveals Methylglyoxal-Derived Advanced Glycation MG-H1 Free Adduct Is a Risk Marker in Non-Diabetic and Diabetic Chronic Kidney Disease

Accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) is linked to decline in renal function, particularly in patients with diabetes. Major forms of AGEs in serum are protein-bound AGEs and AGE free adducts. In this study, we assessed levels of AGEs in subjects with and without diabetes, with normal renal function and stages 2 to 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD), to identify which AGE has the greatest progressive change with decline in renal function and change in diabetes. We performed a cross-sectional study of patients with stages 2–4 CKD, with and without diabetes, and healthy controls (n = 135). Nine protein-bound and free adduct AGEs were quantified in serum. Most protein-bound AGEs increased moderately through stages 2–4 CKD whereas AGE free adducts increased markedly. Methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone MG-H1 free adduct was the AGE most responsive to CKD status, increasing 8-fold and 30-fold in stage 4 CKD in patients without and with diabetes, respectively. MG-H1 Glomerular filtration flux was increased 5-fold in diabetes, likely reflecting increased methylglyoxal glycation status. We conclude that serum MG-H1 free adduct concentration was strongly related to stage of CKD and increased in diabetes status. Serum MG-H1 free adduct is a candidate AGE risk marker of non-diabetic and diabetic CKD.     

Effects of waste material–lime additive mixtures on mechanical properties of granular soils

Granular soil was stabilized using different proportions of silica fume–lime and fly ash–lime and compacted at optimum water content. Compaction, compressive strength and California Bearing Ratio tests were undertaken which confirmed that the use of waste materials and lime mixtures improved the strength properties of the crushed granular soils.