Synthesis,Characterization, and Application of Hybrid Inorganic–Organic Composites (K/Na)ZrSi(R)O<Subscript>x</Subscript>

Hybrid inorganic–organic composites, (K/Na)ZrSi(R)O_x, were synthesized from the hydrolysis of the mixture of zirconium n-propoxide (Zr(OPrⁿ)₄) and 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxy silane (GPTS) in 1:1 mol ratio. The hydrolysis reaction was carried out with 0.1 molar HCl in 150 ml of butanol. Then, the synthesized Zr(OPrⁿ)₄-GPTS-hydrolyzate reacted with KOBu^t and NaOSiMe₃ in 1:1 mol ratio at 40 and 50 °C for 24 h, respectively. After these stages, composites were washed and dried under vacuum. Composites and their oxide prepared at 1250 °C by calcinations were characterized by a combination of powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, Barrett–Joyner–Halenda analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. These hybrid inorganic–organic composites except oxides were used as catalysts in order to see their activities in the polymerization of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL). This study showed that new composite materials except their oxides were effective catalyst in ε-CL polymerization.     

Functionalized Hybrid Coatings on ABS Surfaces by PLD and Dip Coatings

It is important to give water-repellent and antibacterial properties to the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) surfaces of the hearing aids. In this study, the sol–gel Si and sol–gel Ti solutions were prepared from the reactions of silicon ethoxide, titanium butoxide and methacrylic acid. The catalyst and Dynasylan F8815 were added to the sol–gel solutions to give hydrophobic properties onto the ABS surfaces. Additionally, silver nanoparticles were synthesized by nanosecond laser and added to the coating solutions to give extra antibacterial properties. The surfaces of the ABS targets were coated using the sol–gel dip coating and pulsed laser deposition techniques. The coatings with good adhesion between film and substrate and good water-repellent properties were achieved. The average contact angles for the coated ABS surfaces were measured in the range between 120 and 125 degrees. The obtained sol–gel materials and produced thin films onto the ABS surfaces were also analyzed in terms of the antibacterial properties. The highly antibacterial properties were observed in the sol–gel solutions and the thin films.     

Turbulent boundary layers with assigned wall shear

In this paper we consider the problem of computing the external velocity distribution on a two-dimensional body in an incompressible boundary-layer flow for a specified wall shear. This leads to an ‘overdetermined’ boundary-value problem for a partial differential equation containing the edge velocity as an unknown parameter. A numerical procedure for determining the external velocity is given, together with several examples for laminar and turbulent boundary layers.     

Application of LANDSAT imagery to studies of structural geology and geomorphology of the Mentese region of southwestern Turkey

LANDSAT (ERTS-1) multispectral scanner band 5 (0.6–0.7 μm) and band 7 (0.8–1.1 μm) images have been visually interpreted to prepare geologic, tectonic and geomorphologic maps of the Mentese region of southwestern Turkey. Band 7 was most valuable for identifying geologic formations, tectonic fault lines and geomorphologic slope contrast. Band 5 supplemented the information obtained from band 7, by providing information on rock-soil boundaries, tectonic relationships between vegetation and structure, and vegetational tonal differences between steep slopes and flat surfaces.     

Preparation of dextran cryogels for separation processes of binary dye and pesticide mixtures from aqueous solutions

We present mechanically strong macroporous, squeezable dextran cryogels as a column filling material for the removal and separation of binary organic dye and pesticide mixtures from aquatic medium. Dextran cryogels were prepared from aqueous solutions of dextran of various molecular weights (MWs) in the presence of 20 to 50 mol% divinyl sulfone (DVS) as a cross-linker at −18°C. The cryogels have interconnected irregular pores of 100 μm in sizes, and exhibit 69-84% reversible squeezability without damaging the 3D dextran network. Their total open pore volumes (6.3-10 mL g⁻¹), weight swelling ratios in water (1380%-2200%), and mechanical parameters could easily be adjusted by both DVS mol% and MW of dextran. Dextran cryogel with the highest modulus (3.8 ± 0.5 MPa), compressive stress (8 ± 2 MPa) and plateau stress (0.46 ± 0.04 MPa) was obtained at 50 mol% DVS using dextran with a MW of 15 to 25 kg·mol⁻¹. Dextran cryogels are hydrolysable at pH = 1 and 9 but stable at 7.4 independent on both the degree of cross-linking and MW of dextran. At below 50 mol% DVS, they are blood compatible and possess slight thrombogenic effect with blood clotting index value of 98% ± 5%. They are also capable to separate binary dye and pesticide mixtures from aqueous solutions via ionic interactions.     

A practical privacy-preserving targeted advertising scheme for IPTV users

In this work, we present a privacy-preserving scheme for targeted advertising via the Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). The scheme uses a communication model involving a collection of subscribers, a content provider (IPTV), advertisers and a semi-trusted server. To target potential customers, the advertiser can utilize not only demographic information of subscribers, but also their watching habits. The latter includes watching history, preferences for IPTV content and watching rate, which are periodically (e.g., weekly) published on a semi-trusted server (e.g., cloud server) along with anonymized demographics. Since the published data may leak sensitive information about subscribers, it is safeguarded using cryptographic techniques in addition to the anonymization of demographics. The techniques used by the advertiser, which can be manifested in its queries to the server, are considered (trade) secrets and therefore are protected as well. The server is oblivious to the published data and the queries of the advertiser as well as its own responses to these queries. Only a legitimate advertiser, endorsed with so-called trapdoors by the IPTV, can query the cloud server and access the query results. Even when some background information about users is available, query responses do not leak sensitive information about the IPTV users. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated with experiments, which show that the scheme is practical. The algorithms demonstrate both weak and strong scaling property and take advantage of high level of parallelism. The scheme can also be applied as a recommendation system.     

New Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Materials and Their Oxides for Removal of Heavy Metal Ions: Response Surface Methodology Approach

In this paper, Cu(II), Fe(III), Pb(II), and Zn(II) heavy metal ions were removed from their aqueous solutions by using novel inorganic–organic hybrid materials, Al-GPTS-H and Al-GPTS-NaOSiMe₃-H (hybrid material-1 and 2, respectively), and their oxides (calcined-1 and 2) as adsorbents. These ions removal by adsorption was optimized by using response surface methodology (RSM). Central composite design (CCD) method was used in order to investigate the effects of initial pH, initial metal concentration of solutions and adsorbent quantity on the adsorption efficiency (R, %). As a result of the experiments under optimum conditions, the maximum % R values were obtained by hybrid material-1 for Fe(III) (99.89%) and by calcined material-1 for Pb(II) (97.14%), respectively. These quite high adsorption efficiency values have shown that these hybrid materials and their oxides are suitable to use for heavy metal ions removal from aqueous solutions.     

Complexation of titanium alkoxides with pentenoic acid and allylacetoacetate and their hydrolysis and addition reactions with H‐silanes

Complexation reactions of titanium tetraethoxide [Ti(OEt)₄] and titanium tetra‐n‐butoxide [Ti(OBuⁿ)₄] with 3‐pentenoic acid (PA) and allylacetoacetate (AAA), in a 1 : 1M ratio, were studied in ethanol solution at room temperature. ¹³C‐NMR and FTIR spectra showed that all PA and AAA completely reacted with both titanium alkoxides. Hydridosilane compounds such as triethoxysilane and triethylsilane were added to titanium chelate complexes in a 1 : 1M ratio. The investigation of products by ¹³C‐ and ²⁹Si‐NMR and FTIR showed additions of ? SiH to the C?C double bond. The hydrolysis of titanium–PA and AAA complexes, by water in 1 : 4 ratios, resulted in released PA in an amount of 10% and AAA of 20%. The stability of hydrolyzed products was investigated by ¹³C‐NMR, ²⁹Si‐NMR, and FTIR. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 95: 790–796, 2005     

Handwritten digit classification using higher order singular value decomposition

In this paper we present two algorithms for handwritten digit classification based on the higher order singular value decomposition (HOSVD). The first algorithm uses HOSVD for construction of the class models and achieves classification results with error rate lower than 6%. The second algorithm uses the HOSVD for tensor approximation simultaneously in two modes. Classification results for the second algorithm are almost down at 5% even though the approximation reduces the original training data with more than 98% before the construction of the class models. The actual classification in the test phase for both algorithms is conducted by solving a series least squares problems. Considering computational amount for the test presented the second algorithm is twice as efficient as the first one.     

EPDM recycling assisted by γ-processing

The integration of waste ethylene–propylene–diene terpolymer (EPDM), containing carbon black into pristine EPDM can be achieved by γ-irradiation as a versatile procedure to process ethylene–propylene elastomers. The presence of acrylic acid in the material formulation allows the formation of intermolecular bridges by threefold increase in gel content. The possibility of achieving greater stability by the addition of acrylic acid in EPDM systems was analyzed. The start materials were EPDM containing 30 and 50 phr of EPDM powder loaded with 40 phr of carbon black aged by pre-exposure to electron beam irradiation. The advanced γ-irradiation exceeding 100 kGy represented the optimal radiation processing condition. Two procedures of chemiluminescence under isothermal and non-isothermal regimes for the evaluation of radiation stability were applied on γ-irradiated samples. The thermal strength of irradiated samples was characterized based on the radiolysis mechanism of EPDM. The variation in the activation energy required for the thermal oxidation of these samples and the modification in gel contents due to the gelation action of acrylic acid were presented for the validation of proposed recycling radiochemical technique. Charlesby–Pinner representation provided different values for the ratios between radiochemical yields of cross-linking and scission, proving that the presence of acrylic acid promoted the conversion of EPDM wastes into valuable materials.