Hydrophobic Cross-Linked Poly(dimethylsiloxane)-Based Sorbents for Oil Spill Applications

With the increase of industrialization and urbanization, humankind faces massive oil-based pollution due to tanker accidents, human error, and natural disasters. For this, hydrophobic sorbents are fabricated and their applications for the removal of oil from polluted water sources are investigated. These hydrophobic sorbents are prepared by the condensation reaction of poly(dimethylsiloxane) and tris[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]isocyanurate cross-linker via bulk polymerization. The obtained sorbents exhibit high oil sorption capacity, fast absorption–desorption kinetics, and great reusability. Moreover, they can selectively absorb oil from the water surface, thus making them practical for water clean-up applications.     

The Evolving Role of Fetuin-A in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: An Overview from Liver to the Heart

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is strongly associated to the features of metabolic syndrome which can progress to cirrhosis, liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the most common cause of mortality in people with NAFLD is not liver-related but stems from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). The prevalence of NAFLD is on the rise, mainly as a consequence of its close association with two major worldwide epidemics, obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). The exact pathogenesis of NAFLD and especially the mechanisms leading to disease progression and CVD have not been completely elucidated. Human fetuin-A (alpha-2-Heremans Schmid glycoprotein), a glycoprotein produced by the liver and abundantly secreted into the circulation appears to play a role in insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and inflammation. This review discusses the links between NAFLD and CVD by specifically focusing on fetuin-A’s function in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and atherosclerotic CVD.     

Degradation of Lake Ziway,Ethiopia: A study of the environmental perceptions of school students

Lake Ziway in Ethiopia is a freshwater lake supporting multitude uses, including irrigation, fishing, water supply and recreation. However, the lake is being degraded primarily because of various land‐ and water‐use activities in its watershed. Recognizing these human impacts on the lake's water quality and quantity, the perceptions of school students were surveyed under the belief that the future of the lake is largely dependent on this younger generation. The goal of this study was to better understand how students actually recognize the extent to which various human activities impact the water quantity and quality of Lake Ziway. As major stakeholders in their communities, the perceptions of school students from four high schools regarding the changes to the lake over time were investigated. Students were contacted by purposive sampling, based on criteria of student academic performances, and their proximity to the lake. Their perceptions were studied on the basis of an interview survey. The majority of students indicated that high levels of human activities, especially water abstractions and water pollution, were the main lake impacts. Students believe there is a lack of sustainable utilization and protection of the lake. They suggested coordinated activities among all lake stakeholders in the participation and decision‐making process to properly manage the lake. Provision of awareness to both local administrations and local communities, concern for establishing an appropriate regulatory body and allocating a sufficient budget, and strict controls on flower farm practices in the lakeshore, also was considered to be of high priority as a means of conserving the sustainability of the lake. The result derived from this survey has important implications for facilitating improved school curricula, and for federal, regional and district level water resource management authorities, in setting priorities and developing policies for the sustainability of Lake Ziway.     

Using an artificial bee colony algorithm for the optimal placement of viscous dampers in planar building frames

In this study, an Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm (ABCA) is used to obtain the optimal size and location of viscous dampers in planar buildings to reduce the damage to the frame systems during an earthquake. The transfer function amplitude of the top displacement and the elastic base shear force evaluated at the first natural circular frequency of structures are chosen as objective functions. The damper coefficients of the added viscous dampers are taken into consideration as design variables in a planar building frame. Transfer function amplitude of the top displacement and the amplitude of the elastic base shear force at the fundamental natural frequency are minimized under an active constraint on sum of the damper coefficients of the added dampers. According to two specified objective functions, an optimization algorithm based on the ABCA is proposed. The proposed method is verified by a gradient-based algorithm; steepest direction search algorithm (SDSA). The proposed ABCA and the SDSA are applied to find the optimal damper distribution for a nine-storey planar building then the optimal damper allocation obtained from the ABCA is investigated to rehabilitate models of irregular planar buildings. The validity of the proposed method was demonstrated through a time history analysis of the optimal damper designs, which were determined based on the frequency domain using the ABCA. The numerical results of the proposed optimal damper design method show that the use of the ABCA can be a practical and powerful tool to determine the optimal damper allocation in planar building structures.     

A color-based face tracking algorithm for enhancing interaction with mobile devices

A color-based face tracking algorithm is proposed to be used as a human-computer interaction tool on mobile devices. The solution provides a natural means of interaction enabling a motion parallax effect in applications. The algorithm considers the characteristics of mobile use-constrained computational resources and varying environmental conditions. The solution is based on color comparisons and works on images gathered from the front camera of a device. In addition to color comparisons, the coherency of the facial pixels is considered in the algorithm. Several applications are also demonstrated in this work, which use the face position to determine the viewpoint in a virtual scene, or for browsing large images. The accuracy of the system is tested under different environmental conditions such as lighting and background, and the performance of the system is measured in different types of mobile devices. According to these measurements the system allows for accurate (7% RMS error) face tracking in real time (20–100 fps).     

Electro‐induced polymerization of acrylamide initiated by the potassium permanganate–titriplex VI redox system

The polymerization of acrylamide (AAm) was carried out with a potassium permanganate–Titriplex VI redox initiator system with and without electrolysis. Because of the high metal‐ion concentration in general, low‐molecular‐weight polymers were obtained (weight‐average molecular weight = 2600–4000). The effect of potassium permanganate and AAm concentrations and temperature on the polymerization yield was studied and compared with results obtained under the same experimental conditions used for electrolysis. The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results are given. SEM micrographs of the polymer obtained by electrochemical methods exhibited smoother surfaces than those obtained by nonelectrolytic methods. In the absence of potassium permanganate, there was no polymerization under experimental conditions. A possible reaction mechanism is suggested. The electro‐induced system resulted in about a 50% increase in the yield. Manganese content in the electro‐induced and chemical polymerization systems were 2.7 and 8.2%, respectively, supporting the yield increase in the electro‐induced system. A graphite electrode was used and resulted in a high yield and a fibrous polymeric structure. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 1526–1534, 2001     

Development of a technology mentor survey instrument: Understanding student mentors’ benefits

Agreement on the effectiveness of the technology mentoring approach in addressing educators’ needs for learning different technologies has been growing. Literature on the concept of mentoring in general and technology mentoring specifically has indicated mentoring relationships in different settings provide benefits for the less experienced mentoring partner, while existing literature was limited in providing insights about mentoring from the more experienced partner’s point of view. But, studies have suggested that understanding mentors’ reactions to the experience is necessary to establish sustainable and mutually beneficial mentoring relationships. For this purpose, this study discusses and proposes an assessment framework and an instrument to examine benefits for technology mentors. Considering the lack of similar studies and the absence of an instrument designed specifically to study this subject, we believe that our study will contribute to the knowledge base by providing educators with an assessment strategy and a tool for investigating the benefits gained by the more experienced person (graduate student in our context) benefits in a technology mentoring relationship. In addition, the resulting survey instrument provided along with this study is a valuable tool for those studying technology mentoring. The theoretical foundations, development process of the development of the instrument, and reliability and validity issues are discussed in detail.