Clothing-Related Burn Casualties: An Overlooked Problem?

Between 1997 and 2006, more than 4,300 serious burn injuries per year in the United States were associated with clothing. Ages 5–14 had the highest average annual burn injury rate, and ages 25–64 had the lowest rate. There were 120 deaths per year in the United States associated with clothing burns between 1999 and 2004. The death rate for those over 65 was six times the national average. The General Wearing Apparel Standard has regulated the flammability of clothing worn in the United States since 1953. Nearly all of the clothing-related injuries and deaths have occurred in fires involving apparel that complied with this Standard. Despite the size of this problem, there is no organized national activity under way to begin to address these casualties. Experience with the Children’s Sleepwear Flammability Standards, issued in the 1970s, suggests that safer garments can be manufactured that would prevent many clothing burn injuries and deaths. A more stringent up-to-date flammability standard, production of safer garments, use of warning labels, and educated consumers are needed.     

Light-induced changes in bottled white wine and underlying photochemical mechanisms

Bottled white wine may be exposed to UV-visible light for considerable periods of time before it is consumed. Light exposure may induce an off-flavor known as “sunlight” flavor, bleach the color of the wine, and/or increase browning and deplete sulfur dioxide. The changes that occur in bottled white wine exposed to light depend on the wine composition, the irradiation conditions, and the light exposure time. The light-induced changes in the aroma, volatile composition, color, and concentrations of oxygen and sulfur dioxide in bottled white wine are reviewed. In addition, the photochemical reactions thought to have a role in these changes are described. These include the riboflavin-sensitized oxidation of methionine, resulting in the formation of methanethiol and dimethyl disulfide, and the photodegradation of iron(III) tartrate, which gives rise to glyoxylic acid, an aldehyde known to react with flavan-3-ols to form yellow xanthylium cation pigments.     

Throwing New Light on the Reduction of CO2

While the chemical energy in fossil fuels has enabled the rapid rise of modern civilization, their utilization and accompanying anthropogenic CO₂ emissions is occurring at a rate that is outpacing nature's carbon cycle. Its effect is now considered to be irreversible and this could lead to the demise of human society. This is a complex issue without a single solution, yet from the burgeoning global research activity and development in the field of CO₂ capture and utilization, there is light at the end of the tunnel. In this article a couple of recent advances are illuminated. Attention is focused on the discovery of gas‐phase, light‐assisted heterogeneous catalytic materials and processes for CO₂ photoreduction that operate at sufficiently high rates and conversion efficiencies, and under mild conditions, to open a new pathway for an energy transition from today's “fossil fuel economy” to a new and sustainable “CO₂ economy”. Whichever of the competing CO₂ capture and utilization approaches proves to be the best way forward for the development of a future CO₂‐based solar fuels economy, hopefully this can occur in a period short enough to circumvent the predicted adverse consequences of greenhouse gas climate change.     

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The number of species in bloom in 25 m² permanent plots, which were located in grasslands subject to a range of management regimes, was monitored at regular intervals in 1986 and 1988. A single well‐defined peak of number of species in bloom occurred in early July (around day 190: 9 July) for all non‐mown sites. Only a minority of species flowered well away from the peak. It is recommended that management and interpretive strategies for grazed and unmanaged grasslands should concentrate on exploiting this phenomenon, whilst mowing regimes for amenity grasslands should be manipulated to provide colour and interest early and late in the season.     

Interaction dynamics of a spherical particle with a suspended liquid film

Hydrodynamics of collision interactions between a particle and gas‐liquid interface such as droplet/film is of keen interest in many engineering applications. The collision interaction between a suspended liquid (water) film of thickness 3.41 ± 0.04 mm and an impacting hydrophilic particle (glass ballotini) of different diameters (1.1–3.0 mm) in low particle impact Weber number ( ) range (1.4–33) is reported. Two distinct outcomes were observed—particle retention in the film at lower Weber number and complete penetration of the film toward higher Weber number cases. A collision parameter was defined based on energy balance approach to demarcate these two interaction regimes which agreed reasonably well with the experimental outcomes. It was shown that the liquid ligament forming in the complete penetration cases breaks up purely by “dripping/end pinch‐off” mechanism and not due to capillary wave instability. An analytical model based on energy balance approach was proposed to determine the liquid mass entrainment associated with the ligament which compared well with the experimental measurements. A good correlation between the %film mass entrained and the particle Bond number ( ) was obtained which indicated a dependency of Bo^1.72. Computationally, a three‐dimensional CFD model was developed to simulate these interactions using different contact angle boundary conditions which in general showed reasonable agreement with experiment but also indicated deficiency of a constant contact angle value to depict the interaction physics in entirety. The computed force profiles from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model suggest dominance of the pressure force over the viscous force almost by an order of magnitude in all the Weber number cases studied. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 295–314, 2016     

Thermal Expansion of Alkaline‐Doped Lanthanum Ferrite Near the Néel Temperature

The thermal expansion and magnetic behaviors of divalent, alkaline‐doped lanthanum ferrites (La_0.9M_0.1FeO₃, M=Ca, Sr, Ba) were assessed using a combination of dilatometry, magnetometry, time‐of‐flight neutron diffraction, and high‐temperature X‐ray diffraction. Néel temperatures were determined through vibrating sample magnetometry and correlated well with changes in thermal expansion behavior observed during both dilatometry and X‐ray diffraction. The Néel temperatures observed for pure, Ca‐doped, Sr‐doped, and Ba‐doped lanthanum ferrites were 471°C, 351°C, 465°C, and 466°C, respectively. The effect of divalent substitutions on the magnetic behavior are attributed to charge compensation mechanisms and structural changes in the material.     

Influence of change in ether structure on the low temperature dielectric relaxation of some poly(ether imide)

Broad band dielectric relaxation spectra are reported on a range of polymers created by varying the ether segment in a series of poly(ether imide)s. Changes in the structure allow the effects of steric constraints on the local conformational dynamics of the polymer chain to be explored. These changes have a significant effect on the glass transition temperatures of these polymers which range from 245 to over 420°C. In contrast, the low temperature dielectric relaxation behavior of these polymers is very similar and is attributed to cooperative local oscillatory—librational motions. Changes in the stereochemistry effect the amplitude, activation energy for the relaxation process, the packing chain density, and values of the high frequency limiting permittivity, ε_∞′. This latter parameter is sensitive to the extent of dipole induced dipole and π‐π electron interactions and is influenced by the packing density. The magnitude of ε_∞′ is a very important parameter in determining the suitability of poly(imide)s for electrical applications. The magnitude of ε_∞′ increases with the density; however, deviations from this general trend are observed when large nonpolar groups inhibit the interaction of neighboring chains. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 41191.     

Glycoalkaloid Concentrations in Aerial Tubers of Potato ( Solanum tuberosumL)

The total glycoalkaloid concentrations in aerial and subterranean tubers of 14 potato genotypes were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography immediately after harvest. Post-harvest, aerial tubers from all genotypes were exposed to 144 h continuous fluorescent light; additionally three genotypes (cvs Home Guard, Kerrs Pink and Desiree) were subjected to mechanical wounding prior to glycoalkaloid analysis. Variations in glycoalkaloid concentrations between aerial tubers taken from a single genotype (cv Kerrs Pink) were determined by analysis of eight aerial tubers formed in the second leaf axil, selected from separate individual plants. Irrespective of genotype, total and individual glycoalkaloid concentrations were higher in aerial than in subterranean tubers. The highest glycoalkaloid concentrations were found in aerial tubers of cv Kerrs Pink (1343·0 mg kg⁻¹ FW) and lowest in cv Lindsey (301·0 mg kg⁻¹ FW). Ratios of α-chaconine: α-solanine in aerial tubers differed significantly ( P< 0·05) from those in subterranean tubers of cv Cara, Golden Wonder, Home Guard, Lindsey, Maris Piper, Record and 8859 indicating that exposure to light during aerial tuber growth enhanced the synthesis of one glycoalkaloid to a greater degree than the other. In all cultivars except cv Maris Piper, exposure of aerial tubers to 144 h continuous fluorescent light post-harvest increased total and individual glycoalkaloids compared with dark-treated controls. However, the ratios of α-chaconine: α-solanine in all genotypes except cv Golden Wonder (decreased α-chaconine: α-solanine, P< 0·05) were not significantly altered in comparison with dark controls, indicating that light exposure of aerial tubers post-harvest fails to enhance selectively synthesis of individual glycoalkaloids in the majority of cultivars. Regardless of cultivar, total glycoalkaloid, α-solanine and α-chaconine concentrations were higher in wounded than unwounded aerial tubers. Wounding stimulated synthesis of α-solanine more than α-chaconine ( P< 0·05) in cv Home Guard and Desiree. Glycoalkaloid concentrations in aerial tubers varied widely from a minimum of 1010 mg kg⁻¹ to a maximum of 2520 mg kg⁻¹ FW when harvested from individual plants of cv Kerrs Pink but selected from equivalent positions on the plant. Throughout the experiments large, non-significant increases in total and individual glycoalkaloid concentrations were recorded following light and wounding treatments. The scientific implications of aerial tuber formation are discussed.