Utilization of waste polyethylene terephthalate as a reducing agent in the reduction of iron ore composite pellets

The increasing consumption of plastics inevitably results in increasing amounts of waste plastics. Because of their long degradation periods, these wastes negatively affect the natural environment. Numerous studies have been conducted to recycle and eliminate waste plastics. The potential for recycling waste plastics in the iron and steel industry has been underestimated; the high C and H contents of plastics may make them suitable as alternative reductants in the reduction process of iron ore. This study aims to substitute plastic wastes for coal in reduction melting process and to investigate their performance during reduction at high temperature. We used a common type of waste plastic, polyethylene terephthalate （PET）, because of its high carbon and hydrogen contents. Composite pellets containing PET wastes, coke, and magnetite iron ore were reduced at selected temperatures of 1400 and 1450℃ for reduction time from 2 to 10 min to investigate the reduction melting behavior of these pellets. The results showed that an increased temperature and reduction time increased the reduction ratio of the pellets. The optimum experimental conditions for obtaining metallic iron （iron nuggets） were reduction at 1450℃ for 10 min using composite pellets containing 60% PET and 40% coke.     

Acetylene Dicarboxylic Acid Diallyl Ester: A Versatile Monomer for Thiol–Ene Photocured Networks

Thiol–ene photopolymerization (TEP) is a highly advantageous method for the curing of unsaturated monomers, and the design of novel monomers to be used in TEP is an active area of research. The feasibility and the versatility of novel acetylene dicarboxylic acid diallyl ester (ACDAE)-based monomers are synthesized and demonstrated. The electron deficient acetylenic core in ACDAE allows to apply three different click reactions, aza-Michael, thio-Michael, and metal-free azide–alkyne cycloaddition reactions, efficiently on it. Thus, three novel allylic monomers are synthesized and are used to prepare thiol–ene photopolymerized networks. All monomers are synthesized in good yields and structurally characterized by ¹H NMR and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements. Thermal, thermomechanical, and mechanical properties, flame retardancy, transmittance, and the wettability of the networks are determined.     

Daphne oleoides: An alternative source of important sesquiterpenes

This study was targeted to characterize the chemical composition and antibacterial properties of Daphne oleoides subsp. oleoides essential oil. The essential oil was analyzed and quantified by gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Additionally, the broth dilution method was used to evaluate its antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus (ATCC 11778), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228), Streptococcus faecalis (ATTC 29212), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Proteus mirabilis (ATCC 25933), Proteus vulgaris (ATCC 13315), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and Salmonella typhi Ty2 (ATCC 19430). Seventy-nine compounds were identified, representing 95.2% of the total oil. Nootkatone (18.5%), nootkatin (12.1%), and daphnauranol C (11.7%) were determined as the main constituents in the oil. Oxygenated sesquiterpenes were dominating in the oil (43.0%), followed by fatty acid derivatives (13.7%) and carbonylic compounds (9.6%). The minimal inhibitory/bactericidal concentrations of essential oils of D. oleoides were in the range from 25–100 μg/mL, which can be considered as high activity in comparison with the reference antibiotic which was active in the rangefrom 3.12–100 μg/mL. The greatest minimal inhibitory concentration value was determined as 25 µg/mL against both two Bacillus strains and S. epidermidis, B. cereus, B. subtilis, and S. aureus were the most sensitive strains against essential oils when compared with the minimal inhibitory concentrations of control antibiotic. Consequently, Daphne oleoides subsp. oleoides can be exploited as a source of natural antibacterial agents and nootkatone for the pharmaceutical, food, and agricultural industries.     

Design and implementation of a QoS-aware MAC protocol for Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) have entered the class of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to meet the multimedia requirements of new emerging applications, such as surveillance and telepresence. Combining the traditional scalar sensors used in WSN nodes with tiny cameras and microphones, WMSNs commonly carry heterogeneous traffic with different Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In order to deliver heterogeneous traffic with different requirements in highly resource constrained sensor networks, QoS provisioning and service differentiation become unavoidable. In this paper first we discuss the QoS-provisioning in sensor networks and evaluate the efficiency of existing QoS-aware MAC protocols. As a result of this evaluation, next we design and implement a QoS-aware MAC protocol for WMSNs, Diff-MAC, which integrates different methods to meet the requirements of QoS provisioning to deliver heterogeneous traffic and provides a fair all-in-one QoS-aware MAC protocol. Diff-MAC aims to increase the utilization of the channel with effective service differentiation mechanisms while providing fair and fast delivery of the data. Performance evaluation results of Diff-MAC, obtained through extensive simulations, show significant improvements, in terms of latency, data delivery and energy efficiency, compared to two other existing protocols. Implementation of Diff-MAC on Imote2 platform also reveals that the protocol with moderate complexity can be easily implemented on the resource constrained motes.     

Single‐chain polymer nanoparticles via click crosslinking and effect of photoinduced radical combination on crosslink points

Folding of azide functionalized polymer chains was obtained via the copper‐catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) methodology using a light‐responsive crosslinker as the ‘click’ component. Subsequently, crosslinked junction points were combined with a photoinduced radical combination strategy to achieve more compact nanoparticles. The resultant folding particles possess smaller particle sizes and higher glass transition temperature values compared to their linear analogues. Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, SEC, DSC, dynamic light scattering, ¹H NMR and TEM techniques were used for characterization. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry     

Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis for the Sliding Displacement of Slopes: Scalar and Vector Approaches

Sliding block displacements often are used to evaluate the potential for ground failure due to slope instability. The procedures used to assess sliding block displacement typically use deterministic or pseudoprobabilistic approaches, in which the uncertainties in the expected ground motion and resulting displacement are either ignored or not treated in a rigorous manner. Thus, there is no concept of the actual hazard associated with the computed displacement. This paper presents a fully probabilistic framework for assessing sliding block displacements. The product of this analysis is a displacement hazard curve, which provides the annual rate of exceedance, λ, for a range of displacement levels. The framework considers two procedures that will yield a displacement hazard curve: (1) a scalar hazard approach that utilizes a single ground motion parameter and its associated hazard curve to compute permanent displacements; and (2) a vector hazard approach that predicts displacements based on two (or more) ground motion parameters and the correlation between these parameters. The vector approach reduces the displacement hazard significantly, as compared with the scalar approach, because of the reduction in the variability in the displacement prediction. Comparison of the fully probabilistic approach with an approach using probabilistically derived ground motions reveals that using a ground motion for a given hazard level does not produce a displacement level with the same hazard.     

Changes in oxidative stability,antioxidant capacity and phytochemical composition of Pistacia terebinthus oil with roasting

The effect of roasting on oxidative stability, antioxidant capacity and the content of antioxidant phytochemicals in Pistacia terebinthus oil was investigated. Oils were extracted from P. terebinthus fruits roasted at 180 °C for 0–40 min. Roasting was found to cause an increase in the passage of phenolic compounds to the oil whereas the level of tocopherols, lutein and β-carotene was decreased. Antioxidant capacity and oxidative stability of P. terebinthus oil increased with roasting. As an indicator of the presence of Maillard reaction products in oil, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) level and colour intensity was measured and found to increase with increasing roasting time. Fatty acid composition was not affected significantly by roasting.