The Effects of Thermal Procedure on Transformation Temperature, Crystal Structure and Microstructure of Cu-Al-Co Shape Memory Alloy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of different thermal procedures of the Cu-Al-Co shape memory alloy on its crystal structure, transformation temperature and microstructure. The alloys were subjected to a heat treatment and then cooling was applied at four different conditions. After the thermal process, XRD, DSC, optical microscopy and micro-hardness measurements were carried out. The experimental studies showed that crystal structure, microstructure and transformation temperature of Cu-Al-Co alloy were changed from the cooling conditions

Effective-Mass Dirac Equation for Woods-Saxon Potential: Scattering, Bound States and Resonances

Approximate scattering and bound state solutions of the one-dimensional effective-mass Dirac equation with the Woods-Saxon potential are obtained in terms of the hypergeometric-type functions. Transmission and reflection coefficients are calculated by using behavior of the wave functions at infinity. The same analysis is done for the constant mass case. It is also pointed out that our results are in agreement with those obtained in literature. Meanwhile, an analytic expression is obtained for the transmission resonance and observed that the expressions for bound states and resonances are equal for the energy values $E=\pm m$.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

Comparison of the calculated absorption and the measured field strength of HF waves reflected from the ionosphere

The absorption (L) of the wave in the ionosphere has been calculated. The 5.47MHz wave is transmitted from Ercis, Turkey (39.03°N, 43.37°E)and received at Elazıg, Turkey (38.70°N, 39.20°E). The field strength of this wave is measured by ITU-Compliant HF Field Strength Monitoring Terminal, and the absorption L in the ionosphere has been calculated. It is observed that the field strength of the wave is least around noon time and it increases at night times at all seasons. The diurnal and seasonal variations of the calculated absorption L shows that the maximum absorption in the wave occurs around noon time. The behaviour of the diurnal and seasonal variations of the field strength of the wave can be explained with the diurnal and seasonal variations of the calculated absorption L in the ionosphere. Equation (22) in this paper can be used to obtain the imaginary part (β) of the refractive index of the ionospheric plasma, and it can be applied to the HF radio waves propagations in the ionosphere for absorption L

Outbreak of Phytophthora cinnamomi causing severe decline of avocado trees in southern Turkey

Acknowledgements: This research was supported by Bati Akdeniz Agricultural Research Institute (BATEM), and we appreciate the help of the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. We are also thankful to Dr Emrah Yıldırım for preparation of the map.Peer reviewedPostprin

Three-dimensional modelling of the femur and humerus in adult male guinea pigs (guinea pig) with computed tomography and some biometric measurement values

Background: Guinea pig is a species belonging to the Caviidae family of the Rodentia order and is frequently used in experimental studies. Biomedical imaging methods are used in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases in medicine. Among these methods, computed tomography (CT) is one of the most important imaging methods. In this study, it was aimed to perform the three-dimensional (3D) modelling of the CT images, obtained from the humerus and femur in the guinea pigs, via the MIMICS programme, and to make some biometric measurements regarding the bones over these models. Materials and methods: In the present study, 12 male adult guinea pigs were used. The soft tissue on the humerus and femur bones of the guinea pigs was removed. After this procedure, CT images at a 0.5 mm-thickness were obtained from the animals. The images were recorded in DICOM format. Then, the reconstruction process was performed from the images by using the 3D modeling programme MIMICS® 13.1. On the 3D model of the humerus and femur (right-left), volumes, surface areas and lengths as well as other biometric parameters were measured separately, and the values were recorded. In addition, measurements of the bones were made with the help of a digital calliper. Results: Among the parameters obtained from 3D models, a statistical difference was observed between the right and left cortical thicknesses of the femur from the measurements of calliper and the right and left humerus volumes (p < 0.05); whereas, no statistical difference was found in other parameters of both measurements (p > 0.05). Conclusions: It can be stated that CT and 3D modelling can be used for the measurement of some parameters in the long bones of the guinea pigs

Factors associated with non-invasive ventilation response on the first day of therapy in patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) decreases mechanical ventilation indication in the early period of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHcRF) and factors for success have been studied well. But, less is known about the factors influencing the NIV response in the subacute period. This study was aimed to determine the factors influencing the reduction of PaCO(2) levels within first 24 hours of therapy. METHODS: NIV response was defined as reduction of PaCO(2) level below 50 mmHg within first 24 hours. Patients with AHcRF, treated with NIV, were divided into 2 groups according to this criterion; group 1 as the nonresponsive, group 2 as the responsive. The differences in NIV methods and characteristics of the two groups were evaluated and compared in this retrospective study. RESULTS: A total of 100 patients were included in the study; 66 of them in group 1 and 34 in group 2. No significant differences were identified between the length of NIV application and intensive care unit (ICU) stay, intubation and mortality rates, across the groups. Ninety-one percent of the patients in group 2 had received all night long NIV therapy; this was just 74% in group 1 (P=0.036). Results of multivariate analysis showed that while nocturnal application was significantly associated with better response, prior home ventilation and requirement of higher pressure support (PS) levels significantly and independently associated with poorer response to NIV therapy. CONCLUSION: In patients with AHcRF, all night long use of NIV may accelerate healing by improving PaCO(2) reduction within the first 24 hours. A rapid response in PaCO(2) levels should not be expected in patients requiring higher PS levels and using prior home ventilation

Relationship between subclinical hypothyroidism and serum homocysteine concentration in premenopausal women

Objective: In our study we aimed to examine serum homocysteinelevels of patients without thyroid dysfunctionswho have high serum anti thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO)levels and patients with subclinical hypothyroidism whohave high serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) andanti-TPO levels.Methods: One hundred and seven premenopause femaleoutpatients who referred to endocrine clinic of our hospitalwere included in our study. We generated 3 groups. Firstgroup (Control) consists of 53 (50%) patients between theages of 30-40 years. Second group (Euthyroid) consistsof 31 (29%) patients between the ages of 26-49. Thirdgroup (Subclinical Hypothyroidism) consists of 23 (21%)patients between the ages of 33-53 years. Serum totalcholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL)levels were measured by Olympus 2700 autoanalyzer.Serum TSH, free T4, anti-TPO and homocysteine levelswere measured by Siemens Immulite 2000 autoanalyzer.Results: In our study, total cholesterol, triglycerides, lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein(VLDL) levels were not statistically significantly differentamong the groups. Although serum homocysteine levelsof the third group were higher than the other groups it wasnot statistically significantly different among the groups.Conclusion: Serum homocysteine and lipid levels of patientswith euthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidismwho have positive anti-TPO levels may be inadequate inassessing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. J Clin ExpInvest 2013; 4 (3): 293-297Key words: Hypothyroidsm, homocysteine, premenopaus

Analysis and investigation of different advanced control strategies for high-performance induction motor drives

Induction motor (IM) drives have received a strong interest from researchers and industry particularly for high-performance AC drives through vector control method. With the advancement in power electronics and digital signal processing(DSP), high capability processors allow the implementation of advanced control techniques for motor drives such as model predictive control (MPC). In this paper, design, analysis and investigation of two different MPC techniques applied to IM drives; themodel predictive torque control (MPTC) and model predictive current control (MPCC) are presented. The two techniques are designed in Matlab/Simulink environment and compared interm of operation in different operating conditions. Moreover, a comparisonof these techniques with field-oriented control (FOC) and direct torque control (DTC) is conducted based on simulation studies with PI speed controller for all control techniques. Based on the analysis, the MPC techniques demonstrates a better result compared with the FOC and DTC in terms of speed, torque and current responses in transient and steady-state conditions

Low computational complexity for optimizing energy efficiency in mm-wave hybrid precoding system for 5G

Millimeter-wave (mm-wave) communication is the spectral frontier to meet the anticipated significant volume of high data traffic processing in next-generation systems. The primary challenges in mm-wave can be overcome by reducing complexity and power consumption by large antenna arrays for massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) systems. However, the circuit power consumption is expected to increase rapidly. The precoding in mm-wave mMIMO systems cannot be successfully achieved at baseband using digital precoders, owing to the high cost and power consumption of signal mixers and analog-to-digital converters. Nevertheless, hybrid analog–digital precoders are considered a cost-effective solution. In this work, we introduce a novel method for optimizing energy efficiency (EE) in the upper-bound multiuser (MU) - mMIMO system and the cost efficiency of quantized hybrid precoding (HP) design. We propose effective alternating minimization algorithms based on the zero gradient method to establish fully-connected structures (FCSs) and partially-connected structures (PCSs). In the alternating minimization algorithms, low complexity is proposed by enforcing an orthogonal constraint on the digital precoders to realize the joint optimization of computational complexity and communication power. Therefore, the alternating minimization algorithm enhances HP by improving the performance of the FCS through advanced phase extraction, which involves high complexity. Meanwhile, the alternating minimization algorithm develops a PCS to achieve low complexity using HP. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm for MU - mMIMO systems improves EE. The power-saving ratio is also enhanced for PCS and FCS by 48.3% and 17.12%, respectively