Synthesis of Glutamic Acid Derived Organogels and their Applications in Dye Removal from Aqueous Medium

To develop glutamic acid derived cross‐linked polymeric organogels for dye adsorption from aqueous media, dimethyl 2‐(methacrylamido)pentanedioate (Glu‐MAC) is polymerized using diethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross‐linker via the reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) technique to synthesize cross‐linked polymeric organogels with pendant glutamate moieties. The mechanical properties of organogels are examined by rheological study. The organogels exhibit higher value of storage modulus (G′) than the loss modulus (G′′) within the linearity limits of deformation, and strong dependence of G′ values on the extent of cross‐linking in the gel matrix. Field emission scanning electron microscopy shows porous structure of the gel matrix, therefore, organogels are able to exhibit swelling behaviors in organic solvents such as dichloromethane, N,N‐dimethylformamide, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, and methanol. Dye adsorption properties of these organogels are investigated using different aqueous dye solutions, such as crystal violet (CV), malachite green (MG), rhodamine‐B, and uranine. The gels show high dye adsorption capacities (≥97%) toward cationic dyes like CV and MG.     

Thermosonication of peach juice: investigation of PPO and POD activities,physicochemical and bioactive compounds changes,and development of FT-IR–based chemometric models for the evaluation of quality

In this research, the effect of thermosonication on peach juice was investigated. Enzyme inactivation increased with increasing power, temperature, and time. Enzymes were completely inactivated by thermosonication at 60 °C that was lower than the complete inactivation temperature (70 °C) of thermal treatment. Generally, as pH decreased, titratable acidity and °Brix increased by increasing temperature for each thermosonication treatment. The color of peach juice was preserved, and it became lighter. The bioactive components were protected with thermosonication. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy with chemometrics was used to evaluate polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activity and quality attributes during thermosonication treatment. Moreover, the treatment methods were differentiated using principal component analysis, and models that correlated enzyme activity, quality attributes, and bioactive compounds with infrared spectra were constructed using partial least-squares. FT-IR with chemometrics can be used as a reliable method in peach juice quality determination during thermosonication.     

Synthesis and thermal energy storage characteristics of polystyrene-graft-palmitic acid copolymers as solid-solid phase change materials

A series of polystyrene graft palmitic acid (PA) copolymers as novel polymeric solid-solid phase change materials (PCMs) were synthesized. In solid-solid PCMs, polystyrene is the skeleton and PA is a functional side chain that stores and releases heat during its phase transition process. The heat storage of copolymers is due to phase transition between crystalline and amorphous states of the soft segment PA in copolymer and the hard segment polystyrene restricted the free movement of molecular chains of the soft segments even above the phase transition temperature. The copolymers always remain in the solid state during the phase transition processing and therefore they are described as form-stable PCM. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and polarization optical microscopy (POM) analyses were performed to investigate the chemical structures and crystalline morphology. Thermal energy storage properties, thermal reliability and thermal stability of the PCMs were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) methods. Thermal conductivities of the PCMs were also measured using thermal property analyzer. The analysis results indicated that the PA chains were successfully grafted onto the polystyrene backbone and the copolymers showed typical solid-solid phase transition properties. Moreover, thermal cycling test showed that the copolymers have good thermal reliability and chemical stability although they were subjected to 5000 heating/cooling cycling. The synthesized polystyrene-graft-PA copolymers as novel solid-solid PCMs have considerable potential for such as underfloor heating, thermo-regulated fibers and heating and cooling of agricultural greenhouses. Especially, the polystyrene-graft-PA copolymer including 75% PA is the most attractive PCM due to its highest latent heat storage capacity in the synthesized copolymer PCMs.     

Multiple Regression Analysis of Catalytic Dehydrogenation of Isopropanol in a Chemical Heat Pump System

Chemical heat pump is a clean technology developed to upgrade the low‐level thermal energy to upper levels and to store energy without losses caused by temperature differences. Multiple regression analysis of catalytic dehydrogenation of isopropanol was performed. The endothermic dehydrogenation of isopropanol was carried out under continuous boiling and refluxing conditions in order to study the enhancement effects of the presence of an alkaline compound and different types of catalysts at various concentrations in the reaction medium on the evolution rate of hydrogen. The factorial experimental design method was applied to understand better the coupled influences of both catalyst and alkaline additive concentrations to discuss and evaluate statistically the results for different catalysts and to develop the related models.     

路桥施工中病害的原因及处理措施

本文围绕路桥病害的种类介绍、路桥施工中发生病害的根本原因、路桥病害的处理措施三大方面展开讨论,对路桥施工中病害的原因及处理措施进行了简单的分析。     

Structural analysis of an InGaN/GaN based light emitting diode by X-ray diffraction

The important structural characteristics of hexagonal GaN in an InGaN/GaN multi quantum well, which was aimed to make a light emitted diode and was grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on c-plain sapphire, are determined by using nondestructive high-resolution X-ray diffraction in detail. The distorted GaN layers were described as mosaic crystals characterized by vertical and lateral coherence lengths, a mean tilt, twist, screw and edge type threading dislocation densities. The rocking curves of symmetric (00.l) reflections were used to determine the tilt angle, while the twist angle was an extrapolated grown ω-scan for an asymmetric (hk.l) Bragg reflection with an h or k nonzero. Moreover, it is an important result that the mosaic structure was analyzed from a different (10.l) crystal direction that was the angular inclined plane to the z-axis. The mosaic structure parameters were obtained in an approximately defined ratio depending on the inclination or polar angle of the sample.     

Micellization of Some Bile Salts in Binary Aqueous Solvent Mixtures

The micellization behavior of bile salts—sodium cholate and sodium deoxycholate was studied in aqueous methanol, ethanol and ethylene glycol mixtures (10–20 % v/v) over a temperature range (300–320 K) by surface tension and conductivity methods. Critical micelle concentration, extent of counter ion binding (α), interfacial property (A _min, ζ_max, π-CMC, $ \Updelta G_{\text{ad}}^{ \circ } $ ) and thermodynamic parameters ( $ \Updelta G_{\text{m}}^{ \circ } $ , $ \Updelta H_{\text{m}}^{ \circ } $ , $ \Updelta S_{\text{m}}^{ \circ } $ ) for the micellization process are reported and discussed.     

Ecological effects of aquaculture on living and non-living suspended fractions of the water column: a meta-analysis

The effects of aquaculture on the ecology of the water column have been extensively studied in the last two decades. However, to date, it has not been possible to extrapolate homogeneous information from the peer-reviewed literature. In the present study, 68 peer-reviewed articles were analysed and about 1087 study cases were used to test whether worldwide cultivations of aquatic organisms (shrimps, fish, bivalves and polyculture) have a differential effect on living and non-living fractions of the water column (suspended matter, chlorophyll-a, particulate organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, bacteria and plankton). Meta-analysis feasibility depends on obtaining an estimate of the effect size from every study, and the most common measure of effect size (Hedges'd) is the difference between means of controls and impacts standardised by dividing by the pooled standard deviation. Shrimp, fish and bivalve cultivation differentially affected water column dynamics, with a general major impact on bacteria and phytoplankton. In addition, results showed that the water column dynamics are probably affected by organic aquaculture loading but, due to the substantial heterogeneity across studies, the information available on the effects can be considered partially flawed and therefore not sufficient to either support or exclude the notion that different forms of aquaculture affect ecological processes of the water column.     

The influence of moisture content of raw material on the physical and mechanical properties,surface roughness,wettability, and formaldehyde emission of particleboard composite

The objectives of this research were to investigate surface characteristics, physical (thickness swelling) and mechanical (modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and internal bond strength) properties, and formaldehyde emission of particleboard composite, as affected by moisture content of wood. Three-layered particleboard panels manufactured from wood particles at five different moisture contents (20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 95%). Roughness measurements, average roughness (R_a), mean peak-to-valley height (R_z), and maximum roughness (R_y), were taken from the sanded samples along and across the sandmarks using a fine stylus tracing technique. Contact angle measurements were obtained by using a goniometer connected with a digital camera and computer system. Statistical analysis showed significant differences in the surface roughness, contact angle, formaldehyde emission, physical and mechanical properties of the panels following moisture content. Based on the findings obtained from this study, an increase or decrease in the moisture content of wood beyond a certain limit, before chipping operations, negatively affected the wettability and smoothness of particles, and formaldehyde emission, physical and mechanical properties of particleboards.