Process-of-Things: Weaving film industry’s practices into the Internet-of-Things

This paper presents a novel way to address the “silo” obstacle that is making things play a limited role in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) arena since they mainly act as data suppliers. This novel way capitalizes on the concept of storytelling to connect things together, which leads to the formation of Process-of-Things (PoT). In compliance with the movie industry’s practices, a PoT has a script that identifies the necessary characters (actors) along with what they are expected to do, when, and where. Things, specialized into living and non-living, embody the characters during the shooting (filming) of scripts. 5 phases ensure the completion of this embodiment with emphasis on rehearsal and evaluation stages, in this paper, to guarantee character readiness and appropriateness, respectively. A system implementing PoT’s 5 phases is presented in this paper along with a usability study summarizing how end-users, namely farmers, experienced the system

Optimization of reaction parameters in the conversion of PET to produce BHET

The conversion of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was analyzed in order to define the optimal conditions for the Bis(2-Hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) yield as regards catalyst use (zinc acetate), glycol (ethylene glycol), reaction time and temperature. These conditions were optimized so as to decrease the consumption of catalyst and glycolytic agents aiming to extend the analysis to achieve continuous recycling at a greater scale. At the same time, an analysis of the activity of different catalysts (zeolites, acid, and basic resins) was performed; no BHET yields of commercial interest were obtained. The results indicate that a very small catalyst/PET mass ratio and a low glycol/PET ratio are necessary. The reactions were carried out at a temperature of 1958C and a reaction time of 1 h: under these conditions, BHET yield is 30% (starting from pure PET) and up to 88.2% (recycling oligomers plus pure PET).Fil: Capeletti, Maria Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigaciones en Catálisis y Petroquímica ; ArgentinaFil: Passamonti, Francisco Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigaciones en Catálisis y Petroquímica ; Argentin

The 1,3-Dioctadecyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium Based Potentiometric Surfactant Sensor for Detecting Cationic Surfactants in Commercial Products

A low-cost and fast potentiometric surfactant sensor for cationic surfactants, based on the new ion-pair 1,3-dioctadecyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium-tetraphenylborate (DODI-TPB), is presented. The new cationic surfactant DODI-Br was synthesized and characterized by NMR, LC-MS, and elemental analysis, and was used for synthesis of the DODI-TPB ionophore. The DODI-TPB surfactant sensor was obtained by implementation of the ionophore in PVC. The sensor showed excellent response characteristics with near-Nernstian slopes to the cationic surfactants DMIC, CPC, CTAB, and Hyamine 1622. The highest voltage responses were obtained for DMIC and CPC (58.7 mV/decade of activity). DMIC had the lowest detection limit (0.9 × 10−6 M) and the broadest useful linear concentration range (1.8 × 10−6 to 1.0 × 10−4 M). An interference study showed remarkable stability. Potentiometric titration curves for the titration of cationic surfactants (DMIC, CPC, CTAB, and Hyamine 1622), with DDS and TPB used as titrants, showed sigmoidal curves with well-defined inflexion points and a broad signal change. The standard addition method was successfully applied with recovery rates from 98.9 to 101.2 at two concentrations. The amount of cationic surfactant found in disinfectants and antiseptics was in good agreement with the referent two-phase titration method and the surfactant sensor on the market. This new surfactant sensor represents a low-cost alternative to existing methods for cationic surfactant detection