Macromolecular Insights into the Altered Mechanical Deformation Mechanisms of Non-Polyolefin Contaminated Polyolefins

Current recycling technologies rarely achieve 100% pure plastic fractions from a single polymer type. Often, sorted bales marked as containing a single polymer type in fact contain small amounts of other polymers as contaminants. Inevitably, this will affect the properties of the recycled plastic. This work focuses on understanding the changes in tensile deformation mechanism and the related mechanical properties of the four dominant types of polyolefin (PO) (linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polypropylene (PP)), contaminated with three different non-polyolefin (NPO) polymers (polyamide-6 (PA-6), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polystyrene (PS)). Under the locally elevated stress state induced by the NPO phase, the weak interfacial adhesion typically provokes decohesion. The resulting microvoids, in turn, initiate shear yielding of the PO matrix. LLDPE, due to the linear structure and intercrystalline links, is well able to maintain high ductility when contaminated. LDPE shows deformation similar to the pure material, but with decreasing ductility as the amount of NPO increases. Addition of 20 wt% PA-6, PET, and PS causes a drop in strain at break of 79%, 63%, and 84%, respectively. The typical ductile necking of the high-crystalline HDPE and PP is strongly disturbed by the NPO phase, with a transition even to full brittle failure at high NPO concentration.

The Role of the Malaysian Islamic Development Corporation in Monitoring Halal Food and Cosmetic Products: A Descriptive Analysis Case

This study aims to highlight the guiding, and moral role that the Malaysian Foundation for Islamic Development presents in all aspects of Malaysian life as a complete and comprehensive method advocated by Islam as a law that draws from the Sharia and its provisions based on the prophetic saying: “The permissible is clear, and the forbidden is clear, and there are suspicious matters between them that many people are not aware of…”. It also shows that Malaysian Foundation for Halal food act rely on consuming Halal meet only, with permissibility to benefit from slaughtered animals' skin as pure material which was given to us by Allah. The study also shows the Foundation’s interest in following up the non-Muslim community’s treatment of animals, and that they should treat them with respect and care. The Foundation advocates to perform slaughtering animals as stipulated in Shariah, avoiding electric-shock of animals, or throwing them in an inhuman manner. In order to make this goal a reality on the ground, the Foundation appeals to the regulatory authorities to follow up the implementation of the standard specifications for halal products. The Malaysian foundation focuses on halal food ingredients, cosmetics products, medicines, and other Halal related products that are useful to the mankind, accompanied by ethical standards. The researcher relied on the descriptive and deductive analytical method, with the aim to reach the desired outcomes. The study includes two axes: First, it deals with the role of the Malaysian Development Foundation in supervising exports and imports of Malaysian food and medicine products. Second: it studies the situation of the (Halal) brand logo on Malaysian products assessing its profitability in international trade arena and Shariah supervisory professionalism which is adhered to by the Foundation

Devising criteria for the authenticity of historical cold weapons based on X-ray fluorescence analysis of their surface

This paper reports the results of studying the chemical composition of the surface of 4 objects of cold weapons of the 19th and early 20th centuries, made of iron – bayonet knives and sabers. This makes it possible to establish the signs of authenticity of cold weapon samples made of iron in that chronological period. An authentic procedure has been proposed for examining the chemical composition of the surface of historical objects of cold weapons by rubbing the samples with cotton wool swabs and their subsequent investigation. This makes it possible to explore objects of cold weapons, whose size is large, as well as simplify the very procedure for studying objects of historical and cultural value. Using the X-ray fluorescent chemical analyzer Expert Mobile, chemical elements were found at the surface of samples of cold weapons made of iron. The presence of such elements is the result of the process of re-crystallization and self-purification of metal during a long history of its life. Elements found in almost every rubbing sample were identified: calcium, ferrum, zinc, cuprum, and chlorine. The studies of cold weapons samples testify to the heterogeneity of the composition of patina formations on their surface, which confirms the authenticity of ancient objects. In addition, the studies have shown a difference in the chemical composition of surface layers of different parts of individual samples of antique cold weapons, which may indicate different times or different technology for their manufacture. The fluorescence spectra of the obtained rubbing of individual samples of cold weapons were compared with "pure" material, which made it possible to identify elements removed from the surface of objects. The study results are important indicators to confirm the authenticity of cultural monuments and the technology of their manufacture in the past.

Co-Deposition Mechanisms of Calcium Sulfate and Calcium Carbonate Scale in Produced Water

Co-precipitation of mineral-based salts during scaling remains poorly understood and thermodynamically undefined within the water industry. This study focuses on investigating calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate mixed precipitation in scaling. Scaling is often observed in the produced water supply as a result of treatment processes. Co-precipitation results were compared with experimental results of a single salt crystallization. Several parameters were carefully monitored, including the electrical conductivity, pH value, crystal morphology and crystal form. The existence of the calcium carbonate scale in the mixed system encourages the loose calcium sulfate scale to become more tightly packed. The mixed scale was firmly adhered to the beaker, and the adhesion of the co-deposition product was located between the pure calcium sulfate scale and the pure calcium carbonate scale. The crystalline form of calcium sulfate was gypsum in both pure material deposition and mixed deposition, while the calcium carbonate scale was stable in calcite form in the pure material deposition. In the co-deposition, apart from calcite form, some calcium carbonate scale crystals had metastable vaterite form. This indicated that the presence of SO42− ions reduced the energy barrier of the calcium carbonate scale and hindered its transformation from a vaterite form to a calcite one, and the increase in HCO3− content inhibited the formation of calcium sulfate scale.

Puupehenone, an Anticancer Produced by the Indonesian Marine Sponge Hyrtios sp.

In a continuous study on the Indonesian marine sponges, we found a Hyrtios sponge during our expedition in Lhok Mata Ie, an isolated place around Aceh Besar, Indonesia in 2017. The bioassay-guided separation with several steps of chromatography was applied to give pure material. Moreover, the spectroscopic analysis revealed the presence of puupehenone (1), a unique class of merosesquiterpene together with its analogs (2-3). Their structures and bioactivity against multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli (MDR E. coli) together with several cell lines are described here.

Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies. Bibliographical Review. Part 4: 1999-2007

На рубеже веков, как кажется, в изучении Септуагинты происходит «собирание крох». Успехи в источниковедении, грамматике, лексикографии, лексикологии, текстологии, применении новых теорий перевода - парадоксальным образом привели не к выходу на широкие темы, ради которых когда-то в теологических институциях предпринимались шаги в сторону углублённого изучения всех этих дисциплин, но к концентрации на мельчайших вопросах, даже вполне убедительное разрешение которых в отношении к проблемам более общего плана (хотя тоже самим по себе частным), как правило, имеет лишь гипотетическое значение. Такая ситуация позволяет отчасти описать науку о Септуагинте в её зрелой стадии как «башню из слоновой кости», хотя, разумеется, она продолжала готовить специалистов высокого класса и увеличивать знание не только количественно, но и качественно. Можно сказать, что наука вступила в фазу старости и свойственного ей разочарования в постановке романтических целей, вообще в целесообразности как таковой, когда движение жизни хотя и продолжается, но только по инерции. Для богословски заинтересованного ума такая наука представляет собой материал в чистом виде и едва ли готова выступить в качестве собеседника. At the turn of the century the Septuagint research seems to be turned to picking up the crumbs. The progress in source studies, grammatics, lexicography and lexicology, textology, application of new translation theories, paradoxically didn’t lead to the expansion of the formulation of research tasks, although this expansion was meant by theological institutions that once took steps to deepen the study in these fields. Instead, there has been prevailed a meticulous insight into the details, that, even being soluted completely convincing, in relation to the problems of a more general plan (although also in themselves particular), as a rule, has but a hypothetical significance. Such a situation allows us to characterize the Septuagint studies in this period, at least in the main part, as an «ivory tower», despite the continued training of high-class specialists and the increase in knowledge not only quantitative, but also qualitative. It can be said that science has entered a phase of old age with its typical disappointment in romantical goals and in the teleology as such, when the movement of life continues only by virtue of momentum. For the mind interested in theology, a science of this kind, prominent as it is, can only be a pure material and hardly ready to act as an interlocutor.

Wallace Stevens and the Temporalities of Inception and Embodiment

Beginning with Wallace Stevens’s reimagining of the Promethean origins of man (depicted in The Metamorphoses) in “The Rock,” the chapter argues that this poem’s imagining of origin makes manifest ways his thinking about embodiment and temporality has shifted since the early poems—since, for example, “Peter Quince at the Clavier,” “Sunday Morning,” and “The Idea of Order at Key West.” These early poems can be read to assert the body’s power to transcend itself, paradoxically by dwelling on its desiring and ephemeral nature; they assert the body’s power to transcend human finitude by coupling it with the capacity for sensuous evocation in poetic language. Detailed readings of these poems spell out the complications of this assertion. By “The Rock,” Stevens’s figures have taken on an arid abstraction: Their concrete immediacy often seems in inverse relation to their possible visualization, and the claim of a poetic power of transcendence is difficult to distinguish from the radical destitution of meaning voided in a pure material presence. The earlier poems’ concern with embodiment has been transposed to a more primal drama of inception: the coming into being of the poem and the poetic voice, prior to persons, forms, or meanings.

Microbial cellulose based films and composites for food packaging: a review

Currently, the production and application of non-biodegradable petroleum-based synthetic polymer (commonly known as plastic) are highly prevalent. As synthetic polymers as mostly non-biodegradable, they adversely affect the environment and result in the generation of excessive solid waste. The increasing awareness about the ill-effects of synthetic polymers among consumers has resulted in a demand for natural, disposable, biodegradable, reusable, or recyclable food packaging materials. Bio-based polymers and biopolymers have been one of the most favorable alternatives to be exploited and developed into eco-friendly food packaging materials. Certain microorganisms, such as Gluconoacetobacter xylinus, produce cellulose by a fully green procedure which is called bacterial cellulose. Bacterial cellulose demonstrates exceptional properties such as being a chemically pure material, highly flexible, high water absorbency, great tensile strength, highly crystalline nature, highly moldable, non-toxic nature, and biocompatible. However, there are some limitations such as lack of antibacterial properties, optical transparency, and stress-bearing capability which can be overcome by developing bacterial cellulose composites using hydrocolloids like proteins, starches, pectins, etc. The bacterial cellulose composites are employed to develop packaging films with properties such as high mechanical strength; antimicrobial, transparent, biodegradable, with air, water, and oil resistance properties, thus, making it an appropriate material for packaging.

Redesign of an upwind rotor for a downwind configuration: design changes and cost evaluation

Within this work, an existing model of a Suzlon S111 2.1 MW turbine is used to estimate potential cost savings when the conventional upwind rotor concept is changed into a downwind rotor concept. A design framework is used to get realistic design updates for the upwind configuration, as well as two design updates for the downwind configuration, including a pure material cost out of the rotor blades and a new planform design. A full design load basis according to the standard has been used to evaluate the impact of the redesigns on the loads. A detailed cost model with load scaling is used to estimate the impact of the design changes on the turbine costs and the cost of energy. It is shown that generally lower blade mass of up to 5 % less than the upwind redesign can be achieved with the downwind configurations. Compared to an upwind baseline, the upwind redesign shows an estimated cost of energy reduction of 2.3 %, and the downwind designs achieve a maximum reduction of 1.3 %.

First-Principles Studies for Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of p-Type Calcium Doped α-Ga2O3

Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is a promising wide-band-gap semiconductor material for UV optical detectors and high-power transistor applications. The fabrication of p-type Ga2O3 is a key problem that hinders its potential for realistic power applications. In this paper, pure α-Ga2O3 and Ca-doped α-Ga2O3 band structure, the density of states, charge density distribution, and optical properties were determined by a first-principles generalized gradient approximation plane-wave pseudopotential method based on density functional theory. It was found that calcium (Ca) doping decreases the bandgap by introducing deep acceptor energy levels as the intermediate band above the valence band maximum. This intermediate valence band mainly consists of Ca 3p and O 2p orbitals and is adequately high in energy to provide an opportunity for p-type conductivity. Moreover, Ca doping enhances the absorptivity and reflectivity become low in the visible region. Aside, transparency decreases compared to the pure material. The optical properties were studied and clarified by electrons-photons interband transitions along with the complex dielectric function’s imaginary function.