Fabrication of SiO2-ZrO2 composite fiber mats via electrospinning

(1 − x)SiO₂-(x)ZrO₂ (x = 0.1, 0.2) composite fiber mats were prepared by electrospinning their sol-gel precursors of zirconium acetate and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) without using a polymer binder. The electrospun composite fibers were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and mercury porosimetry. The composite fibers having a tetragonal crystalline ZrO₂ were obtained by calcining the electrospun composite fibers at high temperatures. The results show that the structure and crystallization of ZrO₂ in the composite fibers can be controlled by sintering temperature, while the porosity and morphology of the fiber mats did not depend on the sintering temperature.     

Adsorption and desorption characteristics of 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid onto activated carbon

Adsorption and desorption characteristics of the 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) from aqueous solution onto the activated carbon (GAC, F-400) were studied. Adsorption equilibrium capacities of the MCPA increased with decreasing pH and temperature of the solution. Adsorption equilibrium of the MCPA could be represented by the Sips equation. The internal diffusion coefficients were determined by comparing the experimental concentration decay curves with those predicted from surface diffusion model and pore diffusion model. The adsorption model based on the linear driving force approximation (LDFA) was used for simulating the adsorption behavior of the MCPA in a fixed bed. Over ninety five percent desorption of the MCPA could be obtained using distilled water.     

Rearrangement of the main chain of the organocobalt polymers

The polymers 3 having pyridine moieties in the main chain were synthesized by the reaction of the organocobalt polymers 1 having cobaltacyclopentadiene moieties in the main chain with various nitriles 2. When brown colored 1 and excess 2 were heated in tetrahydrofuran at 80 °C for 24 h and then at 150 °C for 12 h in a sealed tube, the polymers 3 were obtained by the precipitation with methanol in good yields. From the spectroscopic measurements, the resulting polymers 3 were found to contain 35 – 90% of the pyridine moieties depending on the structures of 1. Received: 7 July 1997/Revised: 14 August 1997/Accepted: 25 August 1997     

Synthesis and properties of soluble polypyrrole doped with dodecylbenzenesulfonate and combined with polymeric additive poly(ethylene glycol)

Soluble polypyrrole (PPy) samples advanced in electrical conductivity σ were chemically synthesized with dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS) sodium salt as a dopant, with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as an additive, and with ammonium persulfate as an oxidant. The PPy–DBS–PEG samples were soluble in organic solvents (N‐methylpyrrolinone and m‐cresol). The greater the molar percentage ratio was of DBS, the greater the solubility was of synthesized PPy composites (PPy–DBS–PEG). The maximum electrical conductivity at room temperature for PPy–DBS–PEG was 1.02 S/cm, which was in fact the true conductivity of 100/10 (mol %) PPy/DBS. The chemical composition and doping level of PPy–DBS–PEG were determined by elemental analysis. The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used for the structural characterization of PPy–DBS–PEG. The scanning electron microscopy results showed that the electrical conductivity was related to the morphology of PPy–DBS–PEG. According to thermogravimetric analysis, PPy–DBS–PEG was more thermostable than PPy–DBS. Electron spin resonance measurements showed that the polaron and bipolaron acted as charge carriers of PPy–DBS–PEG. According to the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity, PPy–DBS–PEG was a semiconductor and followed the three‐dimensional variable‐range hopping model. The improved electrical conductivity apparently resulted from the reduction of the crosslinking and structural defects of the PPy chains. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 1170–1175, 2005     

Monodisperse polymer/metal composite particles by electroless chemical deposition: Effect of surface functionality of polymer particles

Micron‐sized polymer particles were coated with layers of nickel compounds by plating electrolessly in the presence of aqueous solutions of nickel chloride, sodium hypophosphite, sodium citrate, and ammonium chloride at elevated temperature. The uniform functional polymer particle could be obtained by seeded polymerization. To investigate the effect of surface functionality on the conditions for nickel deposition, the polymer particle was functionalized with the thiol group. From morphological observation, it was found that the mode of nickel deposition was greatly dependent on the surface functionality of the polymer particle. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 420–424, 2003     

A resilience optimization approach for workforce-inventory control dynamics under uncertainty

The presence of uncertainties in manufacturing systems and supply chains can cause undesirable behavior. Failure to account for these in the design phase can further impair the capability of systems to respond to changes effectively. In this work, we consider a dynamic workforce-inventory control problem wherein inventory planning, production releases, and workforce hiring decisions need to be made. The objective is to develop planning rules to achieve important requirements related to dynamic transient behavior when system parameters are imprecisely known. To this end, we propose a resilience optimization model for the problem and develop a novel local search procedure that combines the strengths of recent developments in robust optimization technology and small signal stability analysis of dynamic systems. A numerical case study of the problem demonstrates significant improvements of the proposed solution in controlling fluctuations and high variability found in the system’s inventory, work-in-process, and workforce levels. Overall, the proposed model is shown to be computationally efficient and effective in hedging against model uncertainties.     

An analysis of muscles from ultrasound image using morphological information of fascia and thoracic vertebra

In this paper, we propose a new fully computerized image analysis method for measuring the thickness of muscles from ultrasound image obtained by muscle endurance test using morphological information of fascia and thoracic vertebra. Firstly, we divide the image into lumbar region and thoracolumbar region by the difference of density in image for measuring the thickness of muscles. In lumbar region, we notice that the intensity of fascia is relatively higher than other parts. Thus, we measure the thickness of muscles surrounding the fascia area. In the process, we apply median filter to candidate fascia areas for extracting candidate muscle layers between fascias. Then, the thickness of muscles we measure is that of the third layer. In thoracolumbar region, we apply region expansion method for classifying the region into subcutaneous fat part and part including thoracic vertebra. Then, we apply counting method and evolutionary computation search model to find the measuring location that is in between subcutaneous fat area and thoracic vertebra. In experiment, the proposed method is effective in measuring the thickness of muscles and avoids failures of previous studies. The performance of this approach is sufficiently comparable to that of medical experts.     

Item recommendation based on context-aware model for personalized u-healthcare service

A personalized service in the ubiquitous environment is to provide services or items, which reflect personal tastes, attitudes, and contexts. It is impossible to reflect the context information generated in u-healthcare environments due to the existing recommendation system performing the recommendation using the information directly input by users and application usage record only. This study develops a context-aware model using the context information provided by the context information model. The study applies it to the extraction of the missing value in a collaborative filtering process. The context-aware model reflects the information that selects items by users according to the appropriate context using the C-HMM and provides it to users. The solution of the missing value in the preference significantly affects the recommendation accuracy in a preference based item supply method. Thus, this study developed a new collaborative filtering for ubiquitous environments by reflecting the missing preference value and reflecting it to the collaborative filtering using the context-aware model. Also, the validity of this method will be evaluated by applying it to menu services in u-healthcare services.     

Adsorption and desorption kinetics of hydrocarbons in FCC catalysts studied using a tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM). Part 2: numerical simulations

The factors affecting the adsorption and desorption kinetics in a TEOM are reviewed in detail with particular attention given to the assumptions required to obtain physical transport parameters from the data. Two models are presented to simulate TEOM adsorption data in the case that concentration differences down the catalyst bed can be neglected, as is appropriate when the amount of catalyst used is small, the carrier gas flowrate is large, and/or the adsorbate partial pressure is low. In the first model, the effective diffusion coefficient, D_e, is taken to be constant. In the second model, the effective diffusion coefficient is assumed to obey the Darken equation, D_e=D₀/(1−θ). The TEOM results obtained on n-hexane, n heptane, n-octane, toluene and p-xylene on a commercial FCC catalyst and on pure rare-earth exchanged zeolite Y under non-reacting conditions (373-) are analysed in detail. It is found that intracrystalline diffusion is not the limiting factor affecting the overall rates of adsorption and desorption for the systems studied. Instead, it is the transport of molecules between the adsorbed and vapour phases at the edge of zeolite crystallites that is the limiting transport step affecting the overall kinetics. For the FCC catalyst, the limiting step is the transport of molecules at the zeolite-matrix interface rather than, say, the matrix-vapour interface. Local rate constants for the desorption of the hydrocarbons at the rate-controlling interface have been obtained.     

Case-based context ontology construction using fuzzy set theory for personalized service in a smart home environment

To provide context-based personalized services utilizing smart appliances in a smart home environment, we propose a framework for PersonAlized Service disCovery Using FuZZY-based CBR and Context Ontology (PASCUZZY). Basically, the PASCUZZY framework is implemented on case-based context ontology. To generate and manage the case instances on the case-based context ontology, we adopt the fuzzy set theory to transpose numerical-type context data sensed from the surrounding environment. The context is transposed to linguistic-type context instances on the context ontology. In addition, to formalize and manage the context and services as multi-attributed data, the context ontology was developed reflecting the structure of cases borrowed from case-based reasoning. Furthermore, we propose adaptation methods to adjust the generic fuzzy membership functions depending on the inhabitants’ context. It is performed by modifying the values of the membership number and/or modifying the numbers of the linguistic terms that are based on the inhabitants’ context to affect the membership numbers. The adapted membership functions return the personalized degree of memberships depending on the specialized context of a specific fuzzy variable. Inevitably, the number of cases on the case-based context ontology will be increased from time to time. We apply Ward’s method not only to reduce the search effort via a hierarchical clustering on the case-based context ontology but also to find the most similar service as a solution to the new context. To verify the superiority of the PASCUZZY framework, we perform two kinds of evaluations. First, we evaluate the effectiveness of the adaptation of the fuzzy membership functions. Second, we verify the effectiveness of the application of a clustering method to the case instances of the case-based context ontology to identify the most similar service. Results of the experiment verified the effectiveness and superiority of the PASCUZZY framework.