Planning and management of shared waters: hydropolitics and hydropsychology – two sides of the same coin

Politics and human behaviour play key roles in the planning and management of shared water resources. The interactions between politics and water resources (hydropolitics) have been extensively studied, and the need to study the interactions between human behaviour and water-related activities (hydropsychology) is increasingly recognized. Although both hydropolitics and hydropsychology are useful, neither by itself is adequate across all scales of water resources and human society. This paper reasons that hydropolitics is a top-down view and hydropsychology is bottom-up, and argues for a framework to reconcile the two for a two-way and more balanced approach.     

Novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives as efficient sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells: A combined experimental and computational study

We have synthesized and characterized donor–π–spacer–acceptor type molecules in which 1,3,4-oxadiazoles are π-spacers, triphenylamines are the donors and cyanoacetic acid are the acceptors for use as sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Detailed absorption, emission, electrochemical, photoelectrochemical and computational studies have been carried out on five novel derivatives. The dyes have an absorption range of 377–388 nm, and an emission in the range of 494–540 nm. There is a large charge transfer from the donor side to the acceptor side on excitation. The propeller shape of the triphenylamine and the bulky substituents on it help in reducing the dye-aggregation on TiO₂ surface. The dyes exhibited good overall conversion efficiency (2.79–3.21%). Plane wave calculations indicate that the dye has a reasonably strong binding to the TiO₂ surface and the generated DOS picture shows an overlap of the molecular orbitals of the dye and the TiO₂ bands. We conclude that the dyes have a promising role as sensitizers in DSSC.     

Ultrasound-assisted Acid red dye removal using leather fibre wastes as matrix: ‘intra wastes interaction’ approach

It is desirable to make effective use of solid wastes, as well as waste liquors, of the dye house generated from leather processing. The present study deals with the adsorption of Acid red 26 (Xylidine ponceau) dye using leather fibre waste (buffing dust) as substrate matrix by the means of ultrasound, magnetic stirring and conventional heating. The research examined the effect of various process parameters: ultrasonic power, concentration of dye, temperature and time. The dye uptake data have been fitted with Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms, indicating a useful dye adsorption process. A mechanism for dye adsorption in leather fibres has also been proposed. This study shows that it is possible to remove dyes from dye house effluent streams using leather waste fibres of buffing dust by means of ultrasound. Two different toxic wastes produced by the same industry can be effectively contained. This ‘Intra wastes interaction’ approach could reduce the burden of discarding wastes of other materials in the leather industry.     

Influence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cissus quadrangularis</Emphasis> Stabilized AgNPs and Its Structural,Optical, Antibacterial Analysis: A Comparative Study

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was synthesized by using AgCl precursor with the stabilizing agent Cissus quadrangularis by precipitation method and the obtained particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and UV–Visible (UV–Vis) analysis. The influence of a stabilizing agent on AgNPs was compared with non-stabilized AgNPs through the experimental analysis. The XRD patterns show pure face center cubic structure for both samples, whereas the crystallite size is found to be low in stabilizer used samples. FESEM image and the UV–Vis spectra show less agglomeration and blue shift respectively, for stabilizer used AgNPs, indicating small size particles. Photoluminescence spectra show the emission band at 390 nm for both samples. Antibacterial tests show good activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa for stabilizer used AgNPs. The study concluded that Cissus quadrangularis can be used as a potential stabilizing agent for preparing AgNPs from AgCl, for optical and biomedical applications.     

Mine water effluent quality in the Illawarra region

The mining industry in the Illawarra region exists in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas. An assessment of various water quality parameters are presented for nine mine effluent discharges. Water pollution problems and receiving water quality impacts from various sources are identified. Further studies are required for more precise assessment and quantification.     

Mesoporous Ru/Sn-SBA-15 catalysts: synthesis,characterization and catalytic activity towards hydrogenation of levulinic acid

Journal of Porous Materials - Among the various biomass-derived platform chemicals, levulinic acid (LA) has been identified as one of the top-10 important molecules by Department of Energy, United...