A Lean and Green approach for the eco-efficiency assessment on construction sites: description and case study

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Lean and Green seeks to increase added value and reduce waste generation, while also improving environmental sustainability performance in production...     

A versatile radiochromic dosimeter for low‐medium gamma radiation and its application to food irradiation

This article presents a novel radiochromic film for selective detection of low‐medium (0–10 kGy) gamma radiation (⁶⁰Co) doses. This dosimeter is based on a printed fluorescent multilayer structure comprising a paper substrate having layers of copper phthalocyanine (DY220) (a green emitter material) on the bottom, and layers of poly[2‐methoxy‐5(2′‐ethylhexyloxy)‐p‐phenylenevinylene] (MEH‐PPV) (a green‐light absorber, red emitter, and radiation sensitive polymer) on the top. The effect of gamma radiation on the optical properties of DY220/MEH‐PPV was described: it was observed as a strong correlation between radiation dose and fluorescent, color coordinates for CIE (1931) chromatic diagram, and Pantone color reference of the dosimeter. The rate of these changes can be altered by manipulation of top–bottom layers to represent easily the radiation dose to be determined in a wide range. This versatile dosimeter has many uses in the field of food radiation for monitoring, quality assurance, and control of the gamma radiation process. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 45729.     

Noble metal (Pd, Ru, Rh, Pt, Au, Ag) doped graphene hybrids for electrocatalysis

Metal decorated graphene materials are highly important for catalysis. In this work, noble metal doped-graphene hybrids were prepared by a simple and scalable method. The thermal reductions of metal doped-graphite oxide precursors were carried out in nitrogen and hydrogen atmospheres and the effects of these atmospheres as well as the metal components on the characteristics and catalytic capabilities of the hybrid materials were studied. The hybrids exfoliated in nitrogen atmosphere contained a higher amount of oxygen-containing groups and lower density of defects on their surfaces than hybrids exfoliated in hydrogen atmosphere. The metals significantly affected the electrochemical behavior and catalysis of compounds that are important in energy production and storage and in electrochemical sensing. Research in the field of energy storage and production, electrochemical sensing and biosensing as well as biomedical devices can take advantage of the properties and catalytic capabilities of the metal doped graphene hybrids.     

Inhibition of para‐Hydroxyphenylpyruvate Dioxygenase by Analogues of the Herbicide Nitisinone As a Strategy to Decrease Homogentisic Acid Levels,the Causative Agent of Alkaptonuria

Alkaptonuria (AKU) is a rare multisystem metabolic disease caused by deficient activity of homogentisate 1,2‐dioxygenase (HGD), which leads to the accumulation of homogentisic acid (HGA). Currently, there is no treatment for AKU. The sole drug with some beneficial effects is the herbicide nitisinone ( 1 ), an inhibitor of p‐hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (4‐HPPD). 1 has been used as a life‐saving drug in infants with type I tyrosinemia despite severe side effects due to the buildup of tyrosine. Four clinical trials of nitisinone to treat AKU have shown that 1 consistently decreases HGA levels, but also caused the accumulation of tyrosine in blood serum. Moreover, the human preclinical toxicological data for 1 are incomplete. In this work, we performed pharmacodynamics and toxicological evaluations of 1 , providing the first report of LD₅₀ values in human cells. Intracellular tyrosinemia was also evaluated. Three additional 4‐HPPD inhibitors with a more favorable profile than that of 1 in terms of IC₅₀, LD₅₀, and tyrosine accumulation were also identified among commercially available compounds. These may be promising starting points for the development of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of AKU.     

Silane-Mediated Expansion of Domains in Si-Doped κ-Ga2O3 Epitaxy and its Impact on the In-Plane Electronic Conduction

Unintentionally doped (001)-oriented orthorhombic κ-Ga₂O₃ epitaxial films on c-plane sapphire substrates are characterized by the presence of ≈ 10 nm wide columnar rotational domains that can severely inhibit in-plane electronic conduction. Comparing the in- and out-of-plane resistance on well-defined sample geometries, it is experimentally proved that the in-plane resistivity is at least ten times higher than the out-of-plane one. The introduction of silane during metal-organic vapor phase epitaxial growth not only allows for n-type Si extrinsic doping, but also results in the increase of more than one order of magnitude in the domain size (up to ≈ 300 nm) and mobility (highest µ ≈ 10 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹, with corresponding lowest ρ ≈ 0.2 Ωcm). To qualitatively compare the mean domain dimension in κ-Ga₂O₃ epitaxial films, non-destructive experimental procedures are provided based on X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The results of this study pave the way to significantly improved in-plane conduction in κ-Ga₂O₃ and its possible breakthrough in new generation electronics. The set of cross-linked experimental techniques and corresponding interpretation here proposed can apply to a wide range of material systems that suffer/benefit from domain-related functional properties.     

Assembling three one-camera images for three-camera intersection classification

Determining whether an autonomous self-driving agent is in the middle of an intersection can be extremely difficult when relying on visual input taken from a single camera. In such a problem setting, a wider range of views is essential, which drives us to use three cameras positioned in the front, left, and right of an agent for better intersection recognition. However, collecting adequate training data with three cameras poses several practical difficulties; hence, we propose using data collected from one camera to train a three-camera model, which would enable us to more easily compile a variety of training data to endow our model with improved generalizability. In this work, we provide three separate fusion methods (feature, early, and late) of combining the information from three cameras. Extensive pedestrian-view intersection classification experiments show that our feature fusion model provides an area under the curve and F1-score of 82.00 and 46.48, respectively, which considerably outperforms contemporary three- and one-camera models.     

Formulation optimisation of vegetable flour‐loaded functional bread Part I: screening of vegetable flours and structuring agents

The aim of this work was to optimise durum wheat‐based functional bread loaded with vegetable flours. In particular, the screening of vegetable flours and structuring agents was performed. The per cent sensorial attributes change with respect to the durum wheat bread was calculated. Taste and appearance were the parameters that have most influenced the overall quality of the final product. In the Step 1, yellow pepper flour was chosen because of its taste highly pleasant. In fact, the per cent sensorial attributes change for this sample was about 6%. In the Step 2, different structuring agents were tested to improve the organoleptic properties of the investigated functional bread enriched with 25% of yellow pepper flour. The highest amount of vegetable flour added to the bread results in a low loaf volume, stickiness and compact crumb. A slight improvement compared with the bread sample without structuring agents was observed with 2% of guar seed flour from the appearance and crumb firmness point of view. Therefore, a further optimisation of the functional bread investigated in this work is necessary.