Effect of untreated silica on matt finished of polyacrylic/polyurethane waterborne topcoat

Matt-finished coating is one of trendy aesthetics characters that regarded to a reduction in the amount of a specular reflected light as a result of the surface roughness. Transparency is a challenge to produce a clear matt-finished topcoat. Incorporating matting agent into the system will affect the transparency of the coating. Waterborne polyacrylic/polyurethane (PA/PU) topcoats at three different PA/PU ratios (100:0, 80:20, 60:40) were blended with untreated silica as a matting agent at different weight percentages, namely, 0.5 wt%, 1.0 wt% and 1.5 wt%. Liquid paint properties and dried film were analysed and characterized. From a Fourier transform infrared analysis, the absorption peaks of PU were detected at 1720 – 1730 cm-1 for –C=O vibration and 3360 – 3380 cm-1 for –NH vibration. Meanwhile, the characteristic groups of PA were observed at 1440 – 1450 cm-1, 1720 – 1730 cm-1 and 1150 – 1160 cm-1 corresponding to C-H bonding, -C=O vibration and –C-O-C vibration, respectively. For fumed silica, the absorption peaks were detected at 801, 975 and 1066 cm-1, corresponded to the silanol group. All these peaks confirmed the successful of incorporation of silica into PA/PU blend. For the liquid paint properties, non-volatile content of the waterborne paints showed increment when adding the untreated silica and PU as both contribute 100% and 40% respectively of solid content. Meanwhile, the gloss values of dried PA/PU film decreased with increasing silica amount due to the increase of surface roughness. Silica particles that embedded on the surface of film reflected the incident light at a certain specular angle (600). As more silica was added into the formulations, more specular lights were scattered, hence imparted more matt-finished look (dull and flat). This was supported by the images from scanning electron microscopy that showed the formation of rough surface with the addition of silica. However, a sample that had PU in the formulation showed a bit smoother surface compared with the sample with 100% PA. This was thought due to the elastomeric part of PU had buried the silica particles deep into the PU matrix. Hence, less scattered specular lights were projected to the surface. The arguments were supported by the opacity analysis where sample with 20 wt% PU at 1wt% silica had a lower contrast ratio of 6.26 (less matte) compared to the sample with 100% PA at 1 wt% silica which had 6.32 (more matte). This implied that PA/PU ratio had also influenced the opacity of the sample. Based on the study, incorporation of untreated silica will affect the transparency and will reduce down the gloss of the film coating. The higher the dosage is, the less transparent the film coating will be, thus more matt the finishing will be. On the other hand, it was failed to prove that the untreated silica can be the associative thickener in the system due to the incorporation of the PU thickener

The Dominant Perspective on Terrorism and Its Implication for Social Cohesion: The Case of Singapore

This paper seeks to portray and examine the dominant understanding of terrorism as reflected in official discourse in Singapore. It also evaluates its impact on attempts aimed at combating terrorism's potent threat to social cohesion. It is maintained that pervasive influence of the culturalist approach woven into the understanding of terrorism has had the effect of thrusting into focus Islam and certain presumptions of the identity and culture of the Muslim community of Singapore. The dominance of this approach conditions and compounds the lack of a more comprehensive and objective analysis of the phenomenon informed by concepts and methodology from the social sciences. This impedes efforts at fostering social resilience and cohesion aimed at thwarting the looming threat of terrorism

Treatment of Molluscum Contagiosum with 10% Potassium Hydroxide Solution

Background: To determine the efficacy and safety of topical 10% potassium hydroxide solution in the treatment of molluscum contagiosum (MC) .Methods: An open, prospective, non-randomized study of one year duration was conducted using 10% KOH solution to treat MC. Twenty eight patients completed the study. A total of seven appointments were planned; one baseline and six follow-up visits. 10% KOH was applied to molluscum lesions daily till the lesions resolved or till 3 months had elapsed.Results: Twenty eight patients, among which 22 were children, completed the study. The mean age of patients was 10.6 years. The total lesion count in the patients varied from 5 – 94, with the mean lesion count of 22.14 SD +_ 18.32. There was complete resolution of lesions in 20 (71.4%) of patients , 4 (14.3) had a near complete, 2 (7.1%) had partial and 2 (7.1%) patients had no improvement. 82% patients tolerated the treatment well with no side effects.Conclusion:10% KOH solution is an effective and well tolerated treatment for MC. It is less painful and cost-effective as compared to many well-established therapeutic modalities. It has the advantage of ease of application at home making it an acceptable and feasible option for the treatment of MC

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) ACTIVITIES OF SELECTED COMPANIES AT SOHAR PORT, OMAN

Purpose The objective of the study is to investigate into the roles of Corporate Social Responsibility towards the community development of Sohar.  This study critically analyzes the current practices of CSR in the selected companies at Sohar Port area, Oman. Design/methodology/approach The study was carried out with ten selected companies from Sohar Industrial Port area selected on a random sampling basis.   Findings The study has thrown light on the various activities of CSR carried out by the selected companies in the Al Batinah region of Sultanate of Oman.  The study reveals that the manufacturing companies have high inclination towards CSR programs than the other. Practical Implications Further the study shows that the selection of CSR activities by one company does not have any impact on any other company from the same area.  This will induce every company to come up with new CSR activities in to their manifold. Social Implications The study confirms that the selected companies play significant role through involving them in social responsibility activities resulting in sustained development of Sultanate of Oman. Originality/value No prior study has examined the CSR activities of the companies at Sohar Port, Oman. This study will pave a way to further scope of study on CSR activities of the companies of Oman

Characteristics of patients with guillain barre syndrome at a tertiary care centre in Pakistan, 1995-2003

Objective: To study the clinical presentation, hospital course and outcome of patients admitted with Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) to a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: The charts of patients conforming to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code 9.0, for GBS, from September 1995 to January 2003 were reviewed. Clinical data was recorded on a standardized questionnaire, which included patients\u27 age, sex, antecedent events, neurological signs and symptoms and ventilation requirement. The hospital course was analyzed, including nosocomial infections, therapy given and the functional status of patients, using the Rankin scale (0-6). Standard SPSS 11.5 software (Windows) was used for data analysis. Results: Thirty-four cases of GBS were admitted to the hospital during the study period, with an age range of 3 to 70 years. The mean age for disease onset was 35.2 years for female patients, compared to 30 years for males; the male/female ratio was 1.6:1.Gastrointestinal infections (12/22, 54.6%) were the most common antecedent event, followed by upper respiratory tract infections (9/22, 40.9%) and skin lesions (1/22, 4.5%). Most patients developed GBS within one month of the preceding infection. Cranial nerve abnormalities (30/34, 88.2%), autonomic dysfunction (21/34, 61.8%) and respiratory failure requiring intubation (19/34, 55.9%) were also common. The median Rankin score of patients at admission, and at 30 and 60 days thereafter was 5, 4 and 3.5 respectively. The in-patient mortality was 1 of 34 (2.4%). Conclusion: We found that GBS occurred at all ages and was slightly more common in males. Majority of patients had an antecedent history of infection and had severe disease on presentation. The patients were treated with either plasmapheresis or intravenous immunoglobulins and there was no significant difference in outcome in the two groups. Despite severe persistent disability, in-hospital mortality was low (JPMA 55:493;2005)

Electrophoretic deposition of carbon nanotubes on heat spreader for fabrication of thermal interface materials (TIM)

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are applied in packaging of electronic devices for heat dissipation purposes. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising material due to their high thermal conductivity properties which will give optimum performance as TIMs. In this research study, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is used which enables the deposition process conduct at room temperature with simple equipment setup which beneficial for CNTs deposition. As-produced CNTs was purified and directly deposited on heat spreader using direct current (DC) electricity. Dimethylformamide (DMF) was used as suspension medium for CNTs and the effect of suspension concentration was studied. From the screening of suspension concentration, 0.50 mg/mL yielded good deposition with thickness of 4.78 μm of CNTs deposited on heat spreader at applied voltage of 150V and 10 min deposition time. Further studied in different applied voltage and voltage of 250 V shows the maximum thickness of 15.01 μm with 2.0 mg weight of deposited CNTs which is suitable for fabrication of TIM

Juvenile Delinquency: Kenakalan Remaja dan Anak dalam Sudut Pandang Psikologi dan Hukum

Abstract: Juvenile delinquency is behavior that leads to social pathological symptoms in adolescents caused by social neglect that encourages behavior that deviates from the norms that exist in society. This study aims to examine juvenile delinquency from the point of view of psychology and law. that juvenile delinquency is adolescent behavior that leads to social pathological symptoms resulting in behavior that deviates from the norms that exist in society. The research method used is qualitative research with a literature study approach. Based on the results of the literature study, it is obtained that juvenile delinquency from a psychological point of view is a form of adolescent behavior that leads to social pathological symptoms caused by permissive parenting, lack of family affection and communication, and the role of peer groups. As for the legal point of view that juvenile delinquency is a form of unlawful behavior committed by adolescents under the age of 18 and its handling is regulated by the Child Protection Act and the Juvenile Justice Act.Abstrak: Juvenile delinquency adalah perilaku yang mengarah pada gejala patologis sosial pada remaja yang disebabkan oleh pengabaian sosial sehingga mendorong perilaku yang menyimpang dari norma yang ada di masyarakat. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji juvenile delinquency (kenakalan remaja) dari sudut pandang psikologi dan hukum. bahwa juvenile delinquency merupakan perilaku remaja yang mengarah pada gejala patologis sosial sehingga mengakibatkan adanya perilaku yang menyimpang dari norma-norma yang ada di masyarakat. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu penelitian kualitatif dengan pendekatan studi pustaka. Berdasarkan hasil studi pustaka diperoleh data bahwa kenakalan remaja dari sudut pandang psikologi merupakan bentuk perilaku remaja yang mengarah pada gejala patologis sosial yang disebabkan karena pola asuh yang permisif, afeksi dan komunikasi keluarga yang kurang, dan adanya peran peer group. Adapun menurut sudut pandang hukum bahwa kenakalan remaja merupakan bentuk perilaku melawan hukum yang dilakukan remaja di bawah usia 18 tahun dan penanganannya di atur oleh Undang-Undang Perlindungan Anak dan Undang-Undang Peradilan anak

Security aspects and efforts towards secure Internet of things

Abstract—Internet of Things (IoT) consists of wired and wireless devices, typically supplied with minimum physical resources including limited computational and communication resources. Most of the devices are distinguished by their low bandwidth, short range, scarce memory capacity, limited processing capability and other attributes of inexpensive hardware. The resulting networks are more prone to traffic loss and other vulnerabilities. One of the potential networking challenges is to ensure the network communication among these deployed devices remains secure at less processing and communication overhead, and small packet size. The purpose of this paper is to highlight possible security attacks in Low Power and Lossy Networks (LLNs) as identifying pertinent security issues is an initial step to design the effective countermeasures. The IETF efforts in relevance to security implementation of this type of network are presented with focus on layer-2 and authentication mechanism at upper layer

Delay Contributing Factors and Strategies Towards Its Minimization in IoT

Internet of Things (IoT) refers to various interconnected devices, typically supplied with limited computational and communication resources. Most of the devices are designed to operate with limited memory and processing capability, low bandwidth, short range and other characteristics of low cost hardware. The resulting networks are exposed to traffic loss and prone to other vulnerabilities. One of the major concerns is to ensure that the network communication among these deployed devices remains at required level of Quality of Service (QoS) of different IoT applications. The purpose of this paper is to highlight delay contributing factors in Low Power and Lossy Networks (LLNs) since providing low end-to-end delay is a crucial issue in IoT environment especially for mission critical applications. Various research efforts in relevance to this aspect are then presente