Photocatalytic degradation and heat reflectance recovery of waterborne acrylic polymer/ZnO nanocomposite coating

This work aims to clarify the photocatalytic degradation mechanism and heat reflectance recovery performance of waterborne acrylic polymer/ZnO nanocomposite coating. To fabricate the nanocomposite coating, ZnO nanoparticles (nano-ZnO) were dispersed into acrylic polymer matrix at the various concentrations from 1 to 6% (by total weight of resin solids). The photocatalytic degradation of nanocomposite coating under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation has been investigated by monitoring its weight loss and chemical/microstructural/morphological changes. As the topcoat layer, its heat reflectance recovery has been evaluated under UV/condensation exposure by using an artificial dirty mixture of 85 wt% nanoclay, 10 wt% silica particles (1–5 μm), 1 wt% carbon black, and 2 wt% engine oil. After 108-cycle UV/condensation exposure, infrared spectra and weight loss analysis indicated that the maximal degradation for nanocomposite coating is observed at 1 wt% nano-ZnO. On the other hand, after 96 hr of UV light exposure, the nanocomposite coating with1 wt% nano-ZnO could restore effectively the reflective index of solar-heat reflectance coating (from 58.45 to 80.78%). Finally, the photodegradation mechanism of this waterborne acrylic polymer coating has been proposed as the UV-induced formation of CC CO conjugated double bonds. As a result, its self-cleaning phenomenon can be achieved as the recovery of heat reflectance.     

Antioxidant Activity of Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) Peel Extract in Soybean Oil during Storage and Deep Frying

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) peel (RBP) is discarded as the main by‐product during processing of the fruit. Increasing attention is now paid to the valorization of RBP for the recovery of valuable compounds. Geraniin, ellagic acid, quercetin, and rutin are the main phenolic compounds found in methanolic RBP extract. Extracted rambutan peel powder (ERPP) is used to evaluate the oxidative stability of soybean oil stored at 4 and 30 °C in the dark and light and deep fried with potatoes at 160 °C. Tert‐butylhydroquinone (100 µg g^?1 oil, TBHQ) serves as positive control. Oil supplemented with ERPP of 1000 µg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) g^?1 of oil shows positive effects on the retardation of the oxidation process during storage in comparison with oil without addition. During deep frying, either ERPP (1000 µg GAE g^?1) or TBHQ retards the lipid oxidation of oil. Levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances of potatoes fried in oil fortified with the extract and TBHQ (0.4–0.59 µg g^?1) are much lower than those without the extract (1.31 ± 0.10 µg g^?1) (p < 0.05). Therefore, RBP extract exhibits favorable antioxidant effects and can be used for effectively inhibiting lipid oxidation in oil during storage and deep frying. Practical Applications: An extract from rambutan fruit peel containing phenolic compounds, that is, geraniin, ellagic acid, rutin, and quercetin showed promising results to be used as potential antioxidants in soybean oil during deep frying. Both oxidation of the frying oil as well as the oxidation of the food product, that is, potatoes were inhibited. These results demonstrated that rambutan fruit peel extract can be used as a natural antioxidant in frying oil to replace synthetic antioxidants, that is, TBHQ.     

Open dumping site in Asian developing countries: a potential source of polychlorinated dibenz-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans

Open landfill dumping areas for municipal wastes in Asian developing countries have recently received particular attention with regard to environmental pollution problems. Because of the uncontrolled burning of solid wastes, elevated contamination by various toxic chemicals including dioxins and related compounds in these dumping sites has been anticipated. In this study, concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in soils from dumping sites in the Philippines, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam. Residue concentrations of PCDD/Fs and coplanar PCBs in dumping site soils were apparently greater than those in soils collected in agricultural or urban areas far from dumping sites, suggesting that dumping sites are potential sources of PCDD/Fs and related compounds. Observed PCDD/F concentrations in soils from dumping sites in the Philippines and Cambodia were comparable or higher than those reported for dioxin-contaminated locations in the world (e.g., near the municipal waste incinerators and open landfill dumping sites). Homologue profiles of PCDD/Fs in dumping site soils from the Philippines and, to a lesser extent, from Cambodia and India reflected patterns of samples representing typical emissions, while profiles of agricultural or urban soils were similar to those of typical environmental sinks. This result suggests recent formation of PCDD/Fs in dumping site areas and that open dumping sites are a potential source of dioxins in Asian developing countries. Uncontrolled combustions of solid wastes by waste pickers, generation of methane gas, and low-temperature burning can be major factors for the formation of dioxins in dumping sites. Elevated fluxes of PCDD/Fs to soils in dumping sites were encountered in the Philippines, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam-Hanoi, and these levels were higher than those reported for other countries. Considerable loading rates of PCDD/Fs in the dumping sites of these countries were observed, ranging from 20 to 3900 mg/yr (0.12-35 mg TEQ/yr). PCDD/F concentrations in some soil samples from the Philippines, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam-Hanoi exceeded environmental guideline values, suggesting potential health effects on humans and wildlife living near these dumping sites. The estimated intakes of dioxins via soil ingestion and dermal exposure for children were higher than those for adults, suggesting greater risk of dioxin exposure for children in dumping sites. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study on PCDD/Fs contamination in open dumping sites of Asian developing countries. On the basis of the result of this study, we have addressed a new environmental issue that open dumping sites are potential sources of PCDD/Fs and related compounds, and dioxin contamination in dumping sites may become a key environmental problem in developing countries.     

Polyacrylonitrile‐carbon Nanotube‐polyacrylonitrile: A Versatile Robust Platform for Flexible Multifunctional Electronic Devices in Medical Applications

Flexible multifunctional electronic devices are of high interest for a wide range of applications including thermal therapy and respiratory devices in medical treatment, safety equipment, and structural health monitoring systems. This paper reports a scalable and efficient strategy of manufacturing a polyacrylonitrile‐carbon nanotube‐polyacrylonitrile (PAN‐CNT‐PAN) robust flexible platform for multifunctional electronic devices including flexible heaters, temperature sensors, and flexible thermal flow sensors. The key advantages of this platform include low cost, porosity, mechanical robustness, and electrical stability under mechanical bending, enabling the development of fast‐response flexible heaters with a response time of ≈1.5 s and relaxation time of ≈1.7 s. The temperature‐sensing functionality is also investigated with a range of temperature coefficient of resistances from ?650 to ?900 ppm K^?1. A flexible hot‐film sensing concept is successfully demonstrated using PAN‐CNT‐PAN with a high sensitivity of 340 mV (m s^?1)^?1. The sensitivity enhancement of 50% W^?1 is also observed with increasing supply power. The low cost, porosity, versatile, and robust properties of the proposed platform will enable the development of multifunctional electronic devices for numerous applications such as flexible thermal management, temperature stabilization in industrial processing, temperature sensing, and flexible/wearable devices for human healthcare applications.     

Apoferritin Modified Magnetic Particles as Doxorubicin Carriers for Anticancer Drug Delivery

Magnetic particle mediated transport in combination with nanomaterial based drug carrier has a great potential for targeted cancer therapy. In this study, doxorubicin encapsulation into the apoferritin and its conjugation with magnetic particles was investigated by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF). The quantification of encapsulated doxorubicin was performed by fluorescence spectroscopy and compared to CE-LIF. Moreover, the significant enhancement of the doxorubicin signal was observed by addition of methanol into the sample solution.     

Unsaturated elasto-plastic constitutive equations for compacted kaolin under consolidated drained and shearing-infiltration conditions

Transient process of water flow changes the equilibrium conditions of an unsaturated soil, resulting in volume change of a soil. The volume change alters the hydraulic properties of the soil and thus influences the transient process of water flow through the soil. Therefore, the interactive processes between stress-strain behavior and pore-water pressure are the primary processes affecting the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. This paper presents coupled elasto-plastic constitutive equations for unsaturated compacted kaolin under consolidated drained and shearing-infiltration conditions. The study focused on the development of the suction increase (SI) yield curve that incorporates changes in matric suction during transient processes. In addition, the relationship of change in specific water volume with respect to net mean stress and matric suction was also proposed by incorporating the hysteresis of soil-water characteristic curve. The simulated results by the proposed constitutive model were compared with those obtained from isotropically consolidated drained tests and shearing infiltration tests of compacted kaolin to verify the proposed model. The simulated results are in close agreement with the experimental results.     

Modular argumentation for modelling legal doctrines in common law of contract

To create a programming environment for contract dispute resolution, we propose an extension of assumption-based argumentation into modular assumption-based argumentation in which different modules of argumentation representing different knowledge bases for reasoning about beliefs and facts and for representation and reasoning with the legal doctrines could be built and assembled together. A distinct novel feature of modular argumentation in compare with other modular logic-based systems like Prolog is that it allows references to different semantics in the same module at the same time, a feature critically important for application of argumentation in legal domains like contract dispute resolution where the outcomes of court cases often depend on whether credulous or skeptical modes of reasoning were applied by the contract parties. We apply the new framework to model the doctrines of contract breach and mutual mistake.     

Capture the flag: mixed-reality social gaming with smart phones

The author developed a mobile, mixed-reality version of capture the flag, a popular genre of computer game. Our CTF game is novel in three ways. First, the smart phone is the main interface. Using the smart phone, players physically role-play virtual characters who try to capture enemy flags by traversing different landscapes. This approach creates a direct, real-time linkage between the real and virtual worlds. Second, players can move freely in the real world over a wide area while maintaining seamless real-time networked contact with other players in both the real and virtual worlds. Third, CTF explores novel tangible aspects of human physical movement and perception, both in the real-world playing environment and in interaction with the virtual world.