A comparative study on structural,morphological and photocatalytic properties of anodically grown ZnO nanowires under varying parameters

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In this study, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) were successfully produced on Zn plates through electrochemical anodization in potassium...     

Maximum power density for an endoreversible carnot heat engine

An analysis using maximum power-density criteria has been carried out for an endoreversible Carnot heat engine. The results have been compared with known results on maximum power analysis. The design parameters at maximum power density lead to smaller and more efficient endoreversible Carnot heat engines than those working at maximum power output.     

Cellular neural network with trapezoidal activation function

This paper presents a cellular neural network (CNN) scheme employing a new non‐linear activation function, called trapezoidal activation function (TAF). The new CNN structure can classify linearly non‐separable data points and realize Boolean operations (including eXclusive OR) by using only a single‐layer CNN. In order to simplify the stability analysis, a feedback matrix W is defined as a function of the feedback template A and 2D equations are converted to 1D equations. The stability conditions of CNN with TAF are investigated and a sufficient condition for the existence of a unique equilibrium and global asymptotic stability is derived. By processing several examples of synthetic images, the analytically derived stability condition is also confirmed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamical system parameter identification using deep recurrent cell networks

Neural Computing and Applications - In this paper, we investigate the parameter identification problem in dynamical systems through a deep learning approach. Focusing mainly on second-order, linear...     

hTERT-Driven Immortalization of RDEB Fibroblast and Keratinocyte Cell Lines Followed by Cre-Mediated Transgene Elimination

The recessive form of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is a crippling disease caused by impairments in the junctions of the dermis and the basement membrane of the epidermis. Using ectopic expression of hTERT/hTERT + BMI-1 in primary cells, we developed expansible cultures of RDEB fibroblasts and keratinocytes. We showed that they display the properties of their founders, including morphology, contraction ability and expression of the respective specific markers including reduced secretion of type VII collagen (C7). The immortalized keratinocytes retained normal stratification in 3D skin equivalents. The comparison of secreted protein patterns from immortalized RDEB and healthy keratinocytes revealed the differences in the contents of the extracellular matrix that were earlier observed specifically for RDEB. We demonstrated the possibility to reverse the genotype of immortalized cells to the state closer to the progenitors by the Cre-dependent hTERT switch off. Increased β-galactosidase activity and reduced proliferation of fibroblasts were shown after splitting out of transgenes. We anticipate our cell lines to be tractable models for studying RDEB from the level of single-cell changes to the evaluation of 3D skin equivalents. Our approach permits the creation of standardized and expandable models of RDEB that can be compared with the models based on primary cell cultures.     

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.     

Large-scale SRAM-based IP lookup architectures using compact trie search structures

SRAM-based pipelined architectures for high-speed IP lookup using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) has recently attracted a great deal of attention from researchers. Due to the limited amount of on-chip memory and the number of I/O pins of FPGAs, compact data structures providing high memory efficiency are in great demand.     

Degradation of 4-chloro-2-methylphenol in aqueous solution by electro-Fenton and photoelectro-Fenton processes

Degradation of 4-chloro-2-methylphenol (PCOC), a refractory toxic chemical emitted to the environment from the industrial production of phenoxy herbicides was studied in aqueous solution. Electro-Fenton and photoelectro-Fenton processes were used as the degradation methods. H₂O₂, produced by the reduction of oxygen at carbon cathode reacted with dissolved metal ions to form hydroxyl radicals, which in turn reacted with PCOC sequentially to degrade the aromatic ring. The effects of using different [Fe²⁺]/[PCOC]₀ and the effect of replacing Fe²⁺ by Mn²⁺ ion have been examined. It was found that degradation rate was increased with increasing [Fe²⁺]/[PCOC]₀ ratio from 2 to 4. However, the total charge utilized during the treatment was also increased. The efficiency of PCOC degradation was observed to be higher when Mn²⁺ was used as the catalyst. The mineralization of aqueous solutions of PCOC, withdrawn from the reactor at certain time interval, has been followed by total organic carbon (TOC) decay and dechlorination. A fast and complete degradation of the aromatic ring was achieved in photoelectro-Fenton system. 41.7% TOC decay and complete dechlorination were observed by consuming only 141.4 C electrical charge during a 300 min photoelectron-Fenton treatment. In the case of electro-Fenton system, 280.7 C electrical charge was consumed during 450 min of electrolysis to attain a similar degradation of PCOC. 14.9% TOC removal and 89.3% dechlorination have been obtained in this system under the applied conditions.     

Antibody purification by concanavalin A affinity chromatography

Concanavalin A (Con A) immobilized poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) beads in a spherical form (100–150 μm in diameter) were used for the affinity chromatography purification of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) from aqueous solutions and human plasma. PHEMA adsorbents were prepared by suspension polymerization. Bioligand Con A was then immobilized by covalent binding onto PHEMA beads. The maximum IgG adsorption on the PHEMA/Con A beads was observed at pH 6.0. The nonspecific IgG adsorption onto the plain PHEMA adsorbents was very low (ca. 0.17 mg/g). Higher adsorption values (up to 54.3 mg/g) were obtained when the PHEMA/Con A beads were used from aqueous solutions. A higher adsorption capacity was observed for human plasma (up to 69.4 mg/g) with a purity of 82.5%. The adsorption capacities of other blood proteins were 2.0 mg/g for fibrinogen and 4.2 mg/g for albumin. The total protein adsorption was determined to be 76.0 mg/g. IgG molecules could be repeatedly adsorbed and desorbed with the PHEMA/Con A beads without noticeable loss in the IgG adsorption capacity. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 1202–1208, 2005