A new hand finger movements’ classification system based on bicoherence analysis of two-channel surface EMG signals

Neural Computing and Applications - In this study, two-channel surface electromyography (sEMG) signals were used to classify hand finger movements. Bicoherence analysis of the sEMG signal recorded...     

Soft groups and normalistic soft groups

Soft set theory, proposed by Molodtsov, has been regarded as an effective mathematical tool to deal with uncertainties. In this paper, first we correct some of the problematic cases in a previous paper by Akta? and Çag˜man [H. Akta?, N. Çag˜man, Soft sets and soft groups, Inf. Sci. 177 (2007) 2726-2735]. Moreover, we introduce the concepts of normalistic soft group and normalistic soft group homomorphism, study their several related properties, and investigate some structures that are preserved under normalistic soft group homomorphisms.     

Exact and heuristic algorithms for the aerial refueling parallel machine scheduling problem with due date-to-deadline window and ready times

The Aerial Refueling Scheduling Problem (ARSP) can be defined as determining the refueling completion times for fighter aircrafts (jobs) on multiple tankers (machines) to minimize the total weighted tardiness. ARSP can be modeled as a parallel machine scheduling with ready times and due date-to-deadline window to minimize total weighted tardiness. ARSP assumes that the jobs have different ready times and a due date-to-deadline window between refueling due date and a deadline to return without refueling. In this paper, we first formulate the ARSP as a mixed integer programming model. The objective function is a piece-wise tardiness cost that takes into account due date-to-deadline windows and job priorities. Since ARSP is NP-hard, two heuristics are proposed to obtain solutions in reasonable computation times, namely (1) modified ATC rule (MATC), (2) a simulated annealing method (SA). The proposed heuristic algorithms are tested in terms of solution quality and CPU time through computational experiments with data randomly generated to represent aerial refueling operations of an in-theater air operation. Solutions provided by both algorithms were compared to optimal solutions for problems with up to 12 jobs and to each other for larger problems with up to 60 jobs. The results show that, MATC is more likely to outperform SA especially when the problem size increases, although it has significantly worse performance than SA in terms of deviation from optimal solution for small size problems. Moreover CPU time performance of MATC is significantly better than SA in both cases.     

Influence of Growth Rate on Eutectic Spacing,Microhardness, and Ultimate Tensile Strength in the Directionally Solidified Al-Cu-Ni Eutectic Alloy

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - In this work, the mechanical properties of the Al-Cu-Ni eutectic alloy, Al-32.5 wt pct Cu-1 wt pct Ni, were investigated in terms of...     

Efficient manganese decorated cobalt based catalysts for hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) biofuel

2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) is a promising compound in the production of biofuel with high-quality properties. In this study, it is aimed to develop new efficient catalysts to synthesize DMF from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Co, Mn/Co, and Ru/Co catalysts were prepared using the NaBH₄ reduction method. The catalysts were subjected to activity tests for the hydrogenation of HMF to DMF by changing the reaction parameters, such as temperature and time. Mn/Co catalysts prepared from metal precursors at various molar ratios of Mn/Co were found to be effective in hydrogenation reactions of HMF to DMF. A 91.8% DMF yield was achieved in the presence of a Mn/Co (50/50) catalyst without noble metal at 180°C for 4 hours. The Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) method, x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and induction coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) techniques were used to characterize the efficient Mn/Co catalyst.     

Polyoxalactones and their cationic complexes

Summary Some polyoxalactones were synthesised from the dichlorides of glycolic acids and polyethyleneglycoles in the presence of pyridine. The polyoxalactones were also complexed with some of alkaline and alkaline earth salts and quite stable polyoxalactone-salt complexes were obtained including the Ca⁺⁺ cation. Complexes obtained exhibited mostly 11 type of complex stoichiometry regardles from radius of the cation and the nature of lactone ring.Submitted for the partial fullfillment of Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry at Diyarbakir University, 1981.     

The effects of different greenhouse covering materials on energy requirement,growth and yield of aubergine

Effects of UV stabilised polyethylene (UV+PE), IR absorbers polyethylene (IR+PE), double layers of polyethylene (D-Poly) and single layer of polyethylene (PE), as greenhouse covers, on aubergine growth, productivity and energy requirement were investigated in a late autumn season (2001). The late and final yields of plants grown in D-Poly houses were higher than those grown in UV+PE, IR+PE and PE. Light transmission was the highest in PE, intermediate in UV+PE and IR+PE, and the lowest in D-Poly houses. Relative humidity was the highest in D-Poly, intermediate in IR+PE and UV+PE, and the lowest in PE houses. The plants in D-Poly houses grew and developed faster (more leaves and flowers) than those in IR+PE, UV+PE and PE houses. Plant growth and development in UV+PE and IR+PE houses was similar. Economic analyses showed that aubergine production was economically viable in D-Poly, UV+PE and IR+PE houses. For aubergine production in climatic conditions similar to Black Sea Region, the D-Poly greenhouse is strongly recommended, because there was a higher productivity and a lower heating requirement in comparison to UV+PE, IR+PE and PE houses.     

Colourless distributed combustion effects on a pre-mixed coke oven gas flame

Fuels consisting of high hydrogen concentration can be consumed under colourless distributed combustion (CDC) to suppress flashback tendency in premixed conditions. Higher NO_X challenges can also be overcome through CDC. For those purposes, coke oven gas was consumed under CDC within the scope of this study. To achieve CDC, ${\mathrm{N}}_2$ or ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ diluents were introduced into the oxidizer so that oxygen concentration in the oxidizer would be decreased from 21% O₂ to its lean blow-off limits. Excess air ratios were determined as λ = 1.2 and λ = 1.5 along with a thermal power of 10 kW under premixed conditions. A commercial computational fluid dynamics code was used to predict temperature distribution and ${\mathrm{NO}}_X$, CO, and ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ emissions. 162-step reactions created with GRI-Mech 3.0 chemical kinetics was integrated to the eddy dissipation concept combustion model. The temperature and ${\mathrm{NO}}_X$ profiles predicted were compared with the experimental results. Consistency was achieved at ~95% for temperature profiles, and almost 100% for ${\mathrm{NO}}_X$ profiles between the measured and the predicted ones. According to the results, it is concluded that a more homogeneous temperature distribution with the ~21% decrease in the maximum temperature was observed, and there was about 96% decrease in ${\mathrm{NO}}_X$ level. It was also demonstrated that using ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ as a diluent is more effective in terms of temperature distribution over the combustor and ${\mathrm{NO}}_X$ reduction, while dilution with ${\mathrm{N}}_2$ is more effective in terms about 70% in decrease on CO.