Disentangling age and cohorts effects on home-ownership and housing wealth in Turkey

This paper analyses the contribution of age and cohort effects on home-ownership and housing wealth in Turkey. I construct a pseudo-panel data set based on birth-year cohorts by using sixteen waves of the Turkish Statistical Institute Household Budget Surveys from 2003 to 2018. The empirical analysis reveals that young cohorts are less likely to own their homes, but they are more likely to have outstanding housing debt. Moreover, they are as willing to invest in second homes as older cohorts. I estimate a Heckman two-step selection model to distinguish the contribution of the improvement in the quality of new buildings to home values. As a result, I find that cohort effects on home values are significantly larger for young households even after controlling for age effects and the improvement in the quality of new buildings. Thus, the empirical findings show that young cohorts have a stronger housing demand than old cohorts.

     

Squaraine Dyes for Photovoltaic and Biomedical Applications

Squaraine dyes (SQs) are an important class of polymethine dyes with a unique reasonable-stabilized zwitterionic structure, in which electrons are highly delocalized over the conjugated bridge. These dyes can not only be easily synthesized via a condensation, but also exhibit intense absorption and emission in the visible and near-infrared region with excellent photochemical stability, making them attractive material candidates for many photoelectric and biomedical applications. Thus, in this review, after an introduction of SQs, the recent advances of SQs in the photovoltaic field are comprehensively summarized including dye-sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells, and perovskite solar cells. Then, the important advances in the use of SQs as the biosensors, biological imaging, and photodynamic/photothermal therapy reagents in the biomedical field are also discussed. Finally, a summary and outlook will be provided with some new perspectives for the future design of SQs.     

Effects of Fe2O3 doping on structural and electrical properties of 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cells

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - The effects of doping a trace of Fe2O3 on the structural and electrical properties of 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) are...     

Reclamation of Abandoned Coal Mine Waste in Korea using Lime Cake By-Products

Abstract.  There are hundreds of abandoned coal mines in Korea's steep mountain valleys. Enormous amounts of coal waste from these mines were dumped on the slopes, contaminating streams with sediment and acid mine drainage. A limestone slurry by-product (lime cake), which is produced during the manufacture of soda ash, was investigated for its potential use in reclaiming the coal waste. The lime cake is fine grained, has low hydraulic conductivities (10^-8 to 10^-9 cm sec^-1), high pH, high electrical conductivity, and trace amounts of heavy metals. A field experiment was conducted; each plot was 20 x 5 m in size on a 56% slope. Treatments included a control (waste only), lime (CaCO₃), and lime cake. The lime requirement (LR) of the coal waste to pH 7.0 was determined; treatments consisted of adding 25, 50, and 100% of the LR. The lime cake and lime were applied either as a layer between the coal waste and topsoil or mixed into the topsoil and waste. Each plot was hydroseeded with grasses, and planted with trees. In each plot, soils, surface runoff, and subsurface water were collected and analyzed, and plant cover was measured. Lime cake treatments increased the pH of the coal waste from 3.5 to 6, and neutralized the pH of the runoff and leachate of the coal waste from 4.3 to 6.7. Moreover, the surface cover of seeded species was significantly increased; sufficient acidity in the coal waste was neutralized in the 25% LR plots to allow seed germination.     

Microbial communities in activated sludge performing enhanced biological phosphorus removal in a sequencing batch reactor

Microbial communities of activated sludge in an anaerobic/aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) supplied with acetate as sole carbon source were analyzed to identify the microorganisms responsible for enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Various analytical methods were used such as electron microscopy, quinone, slot hybridization, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses. Electron photomicrographs showed that coccus-shaped microorganisms of about 1 microm diameter dominated the microbial communities of the activated sludge in the SBR, which had been operated for more than 18 months. These microorganisms contained polyphosphate granules and glycogen inclusions, which suggests that they are a type of phosphorus-accumulating organism. Quinones, slot hybridization, and 16S rRNA sequencing analyses showed that the members of the Proteobacteria beta subclass were the most abundant species and were affiliated with the Rhodocyclus-like group. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the two dominating clones of the beta subclass were closely related to the Rhodocyclus-like group. It was concluded that the coccus-shaped organisms related to the Rhodocyclus-like group within the Proteobacteria beta subclass were the most dominant species believed responsible for biological phosphorus removal in SBR operation with acetate.     

Ionic liquid intercalated clay nanofillers for chromatographic applications

In this study, the preparation and characterization of ionic liquid (IL) intercalated montmorillonite (MMT) and their application as a micro-solid phase extraction material for the determination of Chlorpyrifos (CP) pesticide in water samples were reported. The ionic liquids bearing different chain lengths [1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium bromide (C₈mimBr), 1-methyl-3-undecyl-imidazolium bromide (C₁₂mimBr) and 1-methyl-3-octadecyl-imidazolium bromide (C₁₈mimBr)] were intercalated in the galleries of MMT. The IL-intercalated MMTs were characterized by means of XRD and TG methods. The (C₁₂mimBr)-intercalated MMT had the highest sorption efficiency for the CP, which was 32 times higher than the original MMT. We also optimized the parameters for extracting CP from the (C₁₂mimBr)-intercalated MMT.     

Combined effects of Diospyros lotus leaf and grape stalk extract in high-fat-diet-induced obesity in mice

Food Science and Biotechnology - The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effects of Diospyros lotus leaves extracts (DLE) and Muscat Bailey A grape stalk extracts (MGSE) in obesity...