Recent Developments and Practical Feasibility of Polymer‐Based Antifouling Coatings

While nature has optimized its antifouling strategies over millions of years, synthetic antifouling coatings have not yet reached technological maturity. For an antifouling coating to become technically feasible, it should fulfill many requirements: high effectiveness, long‐term stability, durability, ecofriendliness, large‐scale applicability, and more. It is therefore not surprising that the search for the perfect antifouling coating has been going on for decades. With the discovery of metal‐based antifouling paints in the 1970s, fouling was thought to be a problem of the past, yet its untargeted toxicity led to serious ecological concern, and its use became prohibited. As a response, research shifted focus toward a biocompatible alternative: polymer‐based antifouling coatings. This has resulted in numerous advanced and innovative antifouling strategies, including fouling‐resistant, fouling‐release, and fouling‐degrading coatings. Here, these novel and exciting discoveries are highlighted while simultaneously assessing their antifouling performance and practical feasibility.     

Striking Patterns: Contemporary Ikat Design and Its Future

This review presents the results of a conference on ikat textiles organized in the context of the exhibition Striking Patterns: Global Traces in Local Ikat Fashion at the Museum der Kulturen Basel, Switzerland (October 2016 to March 2017). Academics and professional experts, some of them working for NGOs, debated often neglected potentialities as well as the future of contemporary ikat design and other intricately patterned handwoven textiles: the significance of new patterns; intellectual property rights; and educational encouragement. The general focus lay on the controversially perceived innovation of textile patterns in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. We will here present the main arguments of the discussion and our own suggestions for further research.     

Periodic Copula Autoregressive Model Designed to Multivariate Streamflow Time Series Modelling

Water Resources Management - It is a challenge to develop models that can represent the stochastic behaviour of rivers and basins. Currently used streamflow models were constructed under rigid...     

Development of a Food Mixture for Infants and Young Children in Brazil

SUMMARY-The development of food mixtures containing vegetable protein concentrates, minerals, and vitamins represents an important approach to the problem of protein-calorie malnutrition of preschool children in many parts of the world. In Brazil, soy flour is the most readily available good-quality protein for this purpose. Protein efficiency-ratio studies in rats demonstrated that soy flour with a PER value of 1.99 was available in large quantities. Accordingly, a formula containing 19.50% soy flour, 4.50% nonfat milk powder, 32.28% corn starch, 39.00% sucrose, and 4.72% vitamins and minerals was thoroughly tested as an infant food. The PER value of the protein in rats was 2.31. Amino acid assay demonstrated that the protein compared favorably with the essential amino acid pattern of the FAO/WHO reference protein (FAO/WHO, 196.5) except for methionine-cystine, The formula was well accepted and tolerated by children and adults. Average nitrogen absorption and retention of the formula as the sole food of malnourished children were 72.68 and 23.82%; values for milk protein were 80.17 and 30.13%. Average nitrogen absorption and retention were 63.4 and 22.0% when the formula provided one-half (15 g) of the daily protein for normal children consuming a typical diet of the region, comparing favorably with values of 69.3 and 21.3% for milk protein.     

Comments on `Analysis and applications of a multiqueue cyclicservice system with feedback'

The commenter corrects and comments on a few results reported in the paper by H. Takagi (see ibid., vol.COM-35, p.248-50, Feb. 1987). In addition, it is shown how these results can be utilized to give the average message delay for token passing protocols where each network station is allowed to send a maximum of one fixed-length packet per cycle (known as chaining discipline)     

P3HT/PCBM Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: Impact of Blend Composition and 3D Morphology on Device Performance

The performance of polymer solar cells (PSC) strongly depends on the 3D morphological organization of the donor and acceptor compounds within the bulk heterojunction active layer. The technique of electron tomography is a powerful tool for studying 3D morphology of the layers composed of poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and a fullerene derivative ([6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester; PCBM), especially to quantify the amount and distribution of fibrillar P3HT nanocrystals throughout the volume of the active layer. In this study, electron tomography is used to characterize P3HT/PCBM layers with different blend compositions, both before and after thermal annealing. The power conversion efficiency of the corresponding PSCs is strongly dependent on the overall crystallinity of P3HT and the way P3HT crystals are distributed throughout the thickness of the active layer.     

Composite with Recyclable Loads for the Manufacture of Blocks to Build Popular Houses

The science space in a state school in Natal city was built using a composite consisting of gypsum, EPS （expanded polystyrene）, shredded tire, cement and water. Mechanical and thermal resistances were evaluated. Inside the blocks, three types of fillings （EPS plates, aluminum cans and 500 mL bottles of mineral water） were placed in order to obtain a walls with higher thermal resistance, but also to give it an ecologically correct order, considering that both the tire and the EPS occupy a large space in landfills and require years to be degraded when released into the environment. Compression tests were conducted according to the rules. The experiments demonstrated that the temperature difference between the internal and external surfaces on the walls reached levels above 12.0 ℃. It was also demonstrated that the proposed composite has adequate mechanical strength to be used for sealing walls. The proposed use of the composite can contribute to reduce the significant housing deficit of Brazil, producing popular houses at low cost and with little time to work.