Antioxidative effect of Ecklonia cava dried by far infrared radiation drying

Far infrared radiation drying (FIRD) of Ecklonia cava was tried in order to reduce drying time and save money in an industrial processing of wet seaweeds. FIRD was carried out at temperature range of 40–80°C with the examination of antioxidant activities as compared to freeze drying (FD). FIRD showed the shorter drying times and higher polyphenolic contents than FD. Most FIRD extracts had IC₅₀ values than FD extracts. Among them, absolute methanolic extract (ME) from E. cava dried by FIRD at 40°C (FIRD40-ME) possessed the highest radical scavenging activity. Moreover, FIRD40-ME enhanced cell viability and H₂O₂ scavenging activity in Vero cell. Thus, FIRD40-ME was separated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and radical scavenging activities of the separated compounds were directly evaluated by on-line coupled ABTS·+ radical scavenging detection system. From the result, it was found that dieckol was the major antioxidant compound. These results illustrate that antioxidant activity of FIRD were more effective than FD and industrial application of FIRD process can be useful in seaweeds.     

Synthesis of nanoporous zirconium oxophosphate and application for removal of U(VI)

Uniformly arrayed zirconium-phosphate nanoporous material was synthesized, characterized, and used as an adsorbent for removal of U(VI) in a NaNO3 solution with varying background conditions including pH, ionic strength, U(VI) concentrations, and carbonate concentrations. Batch U(VI) adsorption results showed that U(VI) adsorption reached steady-state condition within 48 h, and all the dissolved U(VI) (10(-6)M) was removed by this material at neutral pH and closed conditions to atmospheric CO2(g). The U(VI) adsorption followed a traditional Langmuir adsorption isotherm, and the distribution coefficient (K(d)) calculated from the linear region of the Langmuir isotherm was 105,000 mL g(-1). Because this phosphate-bearing nanoporous material exhibits high thermal stability and has a very high Kd value, it can be applied as an efficient adsorbent for removing U(VI) from various contaminated waste streams, such as those present at the US Department of Energy defense sites and the proposed geologic radioactive waste disposal facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.     

Antihyperglycemic and Antioxidative Effects of Hydroxyethyl Methylcellulose (HEMC) and Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC) in Mice Fed with a High Fat Diet

The effect of dietary feeding of hydroxyethyl methylcellulose (HEMC) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) on the glucose metabolism and antioxidative status in mice under high fat diet conditions was investigated. The mice were randomly divided and given experimental diets for six weeks: normal control (NC group), high fat (HF group), and high fat supplemented with either HEMC (HF+HEMC group) or HPMC (HF+HPMC group). At the end of the experimental period, the HF group exhibited markedly higher blood glucose and insulin levels as well as a higher erythrocyte lipid peroxidation rate relative to the control group. However, diet supplementation of HEMC and HPMC was found to counteract the high fat-induced hyperglycemia and oxidative stress via regulation of antioxidant and hepatic glucose-regulating enzyme activities. These findings illustrate that HEMC and HPMC were similarly effective in improving the glucose metabolism and antioxidant defense system in high fat-fed mice and they may be beneficial as functional biomaterials in the development of therapeutic agents against high fat dietinduced hyperglycemia and oxidative stress.     

A stamped PEDOT:PSS-silicon nanowire hybrid solar cell

A novel stamped hybrid solar cell was proposed using the stamping transfer technique by stamping an active PEDOT:PSS thin layer onto the top of silicon nanowires (SiNWs). Compared to a bulk-type counterpart that fully embeds SiNWs inside PEDOT:PSS, an increase in the photovoltaic efficiency was observed by a factor of ～4.6, along with improvements in both electrical and optical responses for the stamped hybrid cell. Such improvements for hybrid cells was due to the formation of well-connected and linearly aligned active PEDOT:PSS channels at the top ends of the nanowires after the stamping process. These stamped channels facilitated not only to improve the charge transport, light absorption, but also to decrease the free carriers as well as exciton recombination losses for stamped hybrid solar cells.     

Multi-dimensional modeling of CO poisoning effects on proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)

Carbon monoxide (CO), which is preferentially absorbed on the platinum catalyst layer of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), is extremely detrimental to cell performance. Essentially, the carbon monoxide absorption diminishes the cell’s performance by blocking and reducing the number of catalyst sites available for the hydrogen oxidation reaction. In order to obtain a full understanding of CO poisoning characteristics and remediate CO-poisoned PEMFCs, a CO poisoning numerical model is developed and incorporated into a fully three-dimensional electrochemical and transport coupled PEMFC model. By performing CFD numerical simulations, this paper clearly demonstrates the CO poisoning mechanisms and characteristics of PEMFCs. The predictive capability for CO poisoning effects enables us to find major contributors to CO tolerance in a PEMFC and thus successfully integrate CO-resistant fuel cell systems.     

Dynamic Resource Allocation and Scheduling for Cloud‐Based Virtual Content Delivery Networks

This paper proposes a novel framework for virtual content delivery networks (CDNs) based on cloud computing. The proposed framework aims to provide multimedia content delivery services customized for content providers by sharing virtual machines (VMs) in the Infrastructure‐as‐a‐Service cloud, while fulfilling the service level agreement. Furthermore, it supports elastic virtual CDN services, which enables the capabilities of VMs to be scaled to encompass the dynamically changing resource demand of the aggregated virtual CDN services. For this, we provide the system architecture and relevant operations for the virtual CDNs and evaluate the performance based on a simulation.     

Microgrid Electrode for Si Microwire Solar Cells with a Fill Factor of Over 80%

Here, a novel microgrid top electrode for highly efficient radial‐junction Si microwire solar cells is demonstrated. The microgrid electrode minimizes optical and electrical losses, thus ensuring proper function of the shallow (sheet resistance of ≈100 Ω sq⁻¹) junction emitter. This leads to effective collection of the photocarriers from the shallow junction emitter through the top electrode without severe Auger/surface recombination, improving the overall power conversion efficiency of the Si microwire solar cell. With an optimized microgrid structure, 1 cm² microwire solar cells show a conversion efficiency of up to 16.5%, with an open‐circuit voltage of 565.2 mV and a short‐circuit current density of 35.9 mA·cm⁻²; this conversion efficiency is 72% higher than that of solar cells with an edge electrode (9.6%). Further, an ≈1 μm thick Ni electrode that is formed by electroplating considerably reduces the metal and contact resistances, which reproducibly yields a fill factor of over 80% (max 81.2%). Thus, the use of a novel microgrid to construct an ideal metal/emitter interface presents a unique opportunity to develop highly efficient microwire solar cells.     

A study on the mold filling process in resin transfer molding

A numerical simulation of the mold filling process during resin transfer molding (RTM) was performed using the boundary element method (BEM). Experimental verification was also done. Darcy's law for anisotropic porous media was employed along with mass conservation to construct the governing differential equation. The resulting potential problem was solved with the boundary element technique. As the calculation domain changed due to the proceeding resin front, boundary nodes were rearranged for each time step. The node which goes out of the calculation domain as time progresses was relocated at the intersection between the solid boundary and the line drawn between the node at previous and at current time steps. Results showed good agreement with data for a rectangular mold. To evaluate further the validity of the model, the area velocity of the resin-impregnated region during mold filling was calculated. The area velocity thus calculated was compared with the corresponding resin inlet velocity to check the mass conservation. A close agreement was observed, which renders confidence in the resin front proceeding algorithm. Numerical calculations were also performed for complicated geometries to illustrate the effectiveness of the current method.     

Development of high Tg epoxy resin and mechanical properties of its fiber‐reinforced composites

A new epoxy resin with high glass transition temperature (T_g) (～ 180°C) and a viscosity low enough for infiltration into dry reinforcements at 40°C was developed for the vacuum‐assisted resin transfer molding process. To study the curing behavior and viscosity, several blends were formulated using multifunctional resin, aromatic hardener, and reactive diluents. Effects of these components on the viscosity and T_g were investigated by thermomechanical analysis, dynamic scanning calorimetry, and rheometer. Experimental results showed that a liquid aromatic hardener and multifunctional epoxy resin should be used to decrease the viscosity to <1 Pa·s at 40°C. Moreover, the addition of a proper reactive diluent decreased the viscosity and simultaneously minimized the deterioration of T_g. Mechanical properties of the composite produced with the optimized blend were evaluated at both room‐temperature and high‐temperature conditions. According to the results, the composite showed comparable mechanical properties with that of the current commercial resin. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013