An enzymeimmunoassay for total thyroxine using avidin-biotin separation system and thyroxine-peroxidase conjugate

An avidin-biotin enzymeimmunoassay for total thyroxine in serum is described. Avidin was adsorbed to biotinylated bovine serum albumin coated tubes prepared with glutaraldehyde as coupling agent. In the enzymeimmunoassay, affinity purified biotinylated anti-thyroxine IgG, sample or standards, and thyroxine-horseradish peroxidase were simultaneously added to the avidin coated tubes. The bound enzymatic activity was then measured with o-phenylenediamine and H2O2. Results showed that the assay has good precision (within-assay CV% less than 10% and between assay 11.7% in hypo- and 6.9% in hyperthyroid range), good assay range (0-800 nmol/L), good sensitivity (4 nmol/L), and can be performed in 2.5 hours. The results obtained correlate well (r = 0.93) with those of an RIA.     

Influence of the cross‐sectional shape on the structure and properties of polyester fibers

The effects of the fiber cross‐sectional shape on the structure and properties of polyester fibers were investigated. Fully drawn yarn (FDY) polyester fibers (167 dtex and 48 filaments) were produced under the same spinning conditions used in a spinning plant. The only difference between the fibers was their cross‐sectional shapes. Four different cross‐sectional shapes were chosen for the experimental work: round, hollow‐round, trilobal, and hollow‐trilobal. The crystallinity and values of the maximum stress, maximum strain, modulus, yield stress, shrinkage in boiling water, and unevenness of the fibers were determined. The difference in the cross‐sectional shapes influenced the modulus, maximum strain, yield stress, and shrinkage in boiling water. No effects on the crystallinity and maximum stress were observed. The results suggested that the hollow fibers had higher amorphous orientation than the full fibers. The hollow‐round fiber had the highest unevenness value. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 2615–2621, 2007     

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.     

UV curable lens production using molecular weight controlled PEEK based acrylic oligomer (Ac-PEEK)

We produced UV curable lenses with properties blocking short wave UV light. In the UV-curable formulations, we used an oligomer (Ac-PEEK) with another urethan oligomer (Mw = 2000). Radically active, molecular weight controlled Ac-PEEK was obtained by reacting 2-hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate with molecular- weight- controlled and isocyanate terminated PEEK (Mn = 4500). We characterized all synthesized monomer, oligomer and optical materials with UV/Vis spectrophotometer with interferogram, elemental analyser, mass spectrophotometer, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analyzer, differential scanning calorimeter, scanning electron microscopy and gas chromatography. Results suggested that newly synthesized oligomer with the structure of PEEK absorbs short wave UV-light. Ageing tests [ISO 11979-5, Ophthalmic implants—intraocular lenses (IOL)—Part 5: Biocompatibility] performed on the IOL materials were successful. High contact angle of the obtained lenses suggests that all lenses were hydrophobic and SEM results revealed that lenses are morphologically homogeneous. Based on all positive properties just mentioned, we safely conclude that the lenses produced in this study are very promising for IOL production.     

Relative brittleness characterization of some selected granitic building stones: Influence of mineral grain size

Being crystalline materials, brittleness may be an important issue for granitic rocks, especially when they are subject to certain loading conditions. Therefore, in practice, more specifically in their usage as a natural building stone, there is a need for their brittleness characterization. This paper reports a study carried out on some selected granitic rock types in order to determine their relative brittleness index values and relate it to their mineral grain size. For this purpose, three different types of granitic rocks similar in mineral composition, but diverse in grain sizes were selected for the execution of the study. The relative brittleness index values of the studied rock types were determined from the size effect method by using the point load test apparatus. Based on the results of this investigation it is was concluded that, rather than the proportions of the rock forming minerals such as quartz and feldspars, the grain size of feldspars could be the dominant parameter affecting relative brittleness values of the tested rocks.     

The Application of Critical Path Method (CPM) in Workflow Schema of Marble Processing Plants

The critical path method (CPM) is a widely applied technique in large-scale industrial project planning and control. Based on a detailed review of the current literature, no references have been found referring to the use of the CPM in marble processing plants and other industrial mineral plants. In this regard, this study proposes a new application area of CPM and suggests the implementation details of mineral processing workflows with particular emphasis on marble production facilities. In the study, the CPM is applied to marble processing plants for selecting an applicable production process and for determining the workflow schema in order to optimize the cost of operation and to effectively manage time. As a consequence of this analysis, a new production plan is proposed for medium-scale marble processing plants. A suitable marble processing plant has been built and taken into operation in accordance with the proposed plant plan. It has been observed that this plant has a higher production rate at a preferable capacity when compared to three other plants studied as a part of this research.     

Determination of photoinitiated polymerization of multifunctional acrylates with acetic acid derivatives of thioxanthone by RT-FTIR

Photopolymerization of multifunctional acrylates with 2-thioxanthone-thioacetic acid (TXSCH₂COOH) and 2-(carboxymethoxy) thioxanthone (TXOCH₂COOH) as the one-component photoinitiator has been investigated by real-time Fourier transform infrared (RT-FTIR) spectroscopy. The photobleaching of these one-component nature initiators was performed in air. The irradiation time for total bleaching was 240 s for TXSCH₂COOH and 540 s for TXOCH₂COOH.     

Use of Ozone in the Citrus Industry

The use of ozone for postharvest sanitation and decay control of fruits, vegetables and their products during handling, processing and storage has been investigated for commercial applications. Due to their significant contribution to world trade and human nutrition, citrus fruits are thought to be important commodities. Decay can be observed in these products because of microbial activity and ethylene accumulation throughout storage. Residues of pesticides and other compounds in citrus fruit and food-borne illness outbreaks caused by consumption of contaminated citrus juice are important health issues. In this study, the possible uses of ozone in citrus industry for all these problems, and efficacy, benefits and/or detrimental effects of these applications are discussed.     

Synthesis of nanocrystalline samarium-doped CeO2 (SDC) powders as a solid electrolyte by using a simple solvothermal route

Samarium-doped CeO₂ is a leading electrolyte for applications in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), which requires a typical sintering temperature of 1400–1600 °C. In this work, fully dense CeO₂ ceramics doped with 10–20 at.% samarium have been fabricated by a simple polyol process. The XRD and SEM results show that a complete solid solution between CeO₂ and samarium was obtained at the sintering temperature of 1300 °C. And also the densification temperature is significantly lower than those (1400–1600 °C) reported for the SDC powders processed by modified sol–gel process and hydrothermal treatment. The resultant ceramics show the sizes of ultrafine grain are lower than 1 μm.