Effectiveness of new silica fume alkali activator

The effectiveness of a new type of alkali activator is studied. The activator is a product of silica fume. The results obtained showed the silica fume activator as a highly effective substance for the alkali activation of the combinations of Portland cement, silica fume and blast furnace slag, and slag alone. The positive effect of activator is based on the intensification of the production of calcium silicate hydrates and the densifying of the forming pore structure of the activated binder.     

Removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) using low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (LPROM).

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are the focus of current environmental issues, as they can cause adverse health effects to animals and human, subsequent to endocrine function. The objective of this study was to remove a specific compound of EDCs (i.e. pentachlorophenol, C(6)OCL(5)Na, molecular weight of 288 g/mol) using low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (LPROM). A cross flow module of LPROM was used to observe the effects of operating parameters, i.e. pH, operating pressure and temperature. The design of the experiment was based on MINITAB(TM) software, and the analysis of results was conducted by factorial analysis. It was found that the rejection of pentachlorophenol was higher than 80% at a recovery rate of 60 to 70%. The rejection was subjected to increase with the increase of pH. The flux was observed to be increased with the increase of operating pressure and temperature. This study also investigated the interaction effects between operating parameters involved.     

Properties of gap-aggregate gradation asphalt mixture and permanent deformation

Aggregate of natural crush stone in hot mix asphalt is applied to gap gradation mixed with the AC-20 binder, in accordance with Marshall mix design. Laboratory tests were conducted, and the single-factor variance analysis (ANOVA) is employed to estimate the significance of the gradation mixture properties. Based on permanent deformation tests and analytical results, sieve of 2.36 mm may be omitted for nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS) of 12.5 mm, and sieve of 4.75 mm may be omitted for NMAS of 19 mm, in the case of the shortage of aggregate.     

Enhancement of thermal conductivity with carbon nanotube for nanofluids

Thermal conductivity enhancements in ethylene glycol and synthetic engine oil in the presence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) are investigated. CNT nanofluids are prepared using a two-step method. The volume concentration of CNT–ethylene glycol suspensions is below 1.0 vol.% and that of CNT–synthetic engine oil suspensions is below 2.0 vol.%. The thermal conductivities of the CNT suspensions are measured with a modified transient hot wire method. The results show that CNT–ethylene glycol suspensions have noticeably higher thermal conductivities than the ethylene glycol base fluid without CNT. The results for CNT–synthetic engine oil suspensions also exhibit the same trend. For CNT–ethylene glycol suspensions at a volume fraction of 0.01 (1 vol.%), thermal conductivity is enhanced by 12.4%. On the other hand, for CNT–synthetic engine oil suspension, thermal conductivity is enhanced by 30% at a volume fraction of 0.02 (2 vol.%). The rates of increase are, however, different for different base fluids. The CNT–synthetic engine oil suspension has a much higher enhanced thermal conductivity ratio than the CNT–ethylene glycol suspension.     

Evaluating non-business e-commerce adoption decision processes and gender roles

Non-business e-commerce adoption refers to the use of e-commerce by not-for profit organizations such as religious organizations, government agencies and academic institutions to reduce their expenses or to improve their operations and customer service. Being a new research niche in the field of e-commerce, non-business e-commerce has received very little or no research attention. This has resulted in a very poor understanding of this niche, especially with regards to its adoption facilitators and inhibitors. Based on this impetus, a field survey of Malaysian Universities was conducted to determine the key factors that facilitate non-business EC adoption as well as the role of gender differential. A comprehensive list of potential facilitators for the strategic use of information technology was derived from extant research reports and used to collect data from five public universities in Malaysia. The data were factor-analysed to determine the key underlying dimensions of facilitators. On the basis of the resulting five dimensions namely, relative advantage orientation, network orientation, information efficiency orientation, innovativeness orientation and competitiveness orientation, regression analysis was done to determine the impact of the five dimensions on adoption. Dummy variable was created for gender and applied in the regression analysis in order to estimate the moderation effect of sex typing on the relationship between the resulting dimensions and adoption. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Morphology/behaviour relationship of nanocomposites based on natural rubber/epoxidized natural rubber blends

In order to analyze the effect of an epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and filler treatment on the morphology and behavior of natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites, blends of these polymers have been prepared. The nature and extent of the clay dispersions in the filled samples were evaluated by X-ray diffraction. In the presence of ENR, an exfoliated structure was obtained which suggests that enough rubbery polymer was incorporated into the interlayer spacing. The effect of clay in rubber compounds was analyzed through rheological, mechanical and swelling characterization. A sensible improvement in the nanocomposite properties was observed by the addition of organoclay. It has been deduced that the properties of the compounds strongly depend on the extent of the silicate nanolayers dispersion into the rubber matrices as well as on the organoclay type and elastomer compatibility.     

Forming consensus in the networks of knowledge

Information granules, such as e.g., fuzzy sets, capture essential knowledge about data and the key dependencies between them. Quite commonly, we may envision that information granules (fuzzy sets) have become a result of fuzzy clustering and therefore could be succinctly represented in the form of some fuzzy partition matrices. Interestingly, the same data set could be represented from various standpoints and this multifaceted view yields a collection of different partition matrices being reflective of the higher-order granular knowledge about the data. The levels of specificity of the clusters the data are organized into could be quite different—the larger the number of clusters, the more detailed insight into the structure of data becomes available. Given the granularity of the resulting constructs (rather than plain data themselves), one could view a collection of partition matrices as a certain type of a network of knowledge. Considering a variety of sources of knowledge encountered across the network, we are interested in forming consensus between them. In a nutshell, this leads to the construction of certain fuzzy partition matrices which “reconcile” the knowledge captured by the individual partition matrices. Given that the granularity of the sources of knowledge under consideration could vary quite substantially, we develop a unified optimization perspective by introducing fuzzy proximity matrices that are induced by the corresponding partition matrices. In the sequel, the optimization is realized on a basis of these proximity matrices. We offer a detailed algorithm and illustrate its performance using a series of numeric experiments.     

Biocompatibility and immunocompatibility of water-soluble polymers based on HPMA

Water-soluble copolymers based on N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) are investigated as potential carriers of anticancer drugs. For application of such compounds in therapeutic practice their immunogenicity must be checked and copolymers must be found having a structure which would not only be suitable for drug targeting, but would also induce the smallest possible defense reaction in recipient organism. Homopolymer poly(HPMA) with MW around 30 kDa is not recognized as a foreign molecule as no defense reaction against it was recorded. The attachment of side oligopeptide sequences to the HPMA backbone bestows a certain degree of immunogenicity which depends on the composition of the oligopeptidic side chains, dose and route of application, MW and the genotype of immunized individual. HPMA copolymers not only fail to induce a significant immune response against them but they have similar capacity as PEG to dramatically reduce the antibody response against proteins bound to them as a targeting moiety or for the therapeutic purpose. Moreover, the treatment with HPMA-based polymeric drugs evokes in host organism systemic anti-cancer immunity involving both specific and non-specific defense mechanisms of cancer-bearing host.     

Selective hydrogenation of oleic acid to 9-octadecen-1-ol: Catalyst preparation and optimum reaction conditions

A new catalyst, ruthenium-tin-alumina is found to selectively hydrogenate oleic acid to 9-octadecen-1-ol (oleyl + elaidyl alcohol) at low pressure with high yield. Catalyst preparation methods, catalyst raw materials and activation conditions have a significant effect on the activity of the catalyst. The optimum atomic ratio of ruthenium to tin is about 1:2. Catalyst prepared by an improved sol-gel method shows higher activity and selectivity than catalysts prepared by impregnation and coprecipitation methods. Chloride is found to have a negative effect on catalytic activity. The best catalyst is prepared from chloride-free ruthenium and tin raw materials. Under the optimum reaction conditions of 250°C and 5.6 MPa, the selectivities for 9-octadecen-1-ol and total alcohol (9-octadecen-1-ol + stearyl alcohol) formation are 80.9% and 97%, respectively, at a conversion of 81.3%.