A research experiment on facilitation and formation of joint research and development programs between government, industry, and universities: Overview, preliminary findings, and observations

Presented is an overview of an experiment to explore the free-market approach to public-private collaboration through the development and implementation of a joint venture mechanism to enable formation of R&D projects between government, industry and academia. Some preliminary results related to time-to-commercialization and economic competitiveness are discussed

Synthesis and Energy Applications of Mesoporous Titania Thin Films

The optical and electronic properties of TiO2 thin films provide tremendous opportunities in several applications including photocatalysis, photovoltaics and photoconductors for energy production. Despite many attractive features of TiO2, critical challenges include the innate inability of TiO2 to absorb visible light and the fast recombination of photoexcited charge carriers. In this study, mesoporous TiO2 thin films are modified by doping using hydrogen and nitrogen, and sensitization using graphene quantum dot sensitization. For all of these modifiers, well-ordered mesoporous titania films were synthesized by surfactant templated sol-gel process. Two methods: hydrazine and plasma treatments have been developed for nitrogen and hydrogen doping in the mesoporous titania films for band gap reduction, visible light absorption and enhancement of photocatalytic activity. The hydrazine treatment in mesoporous titania thin films suggests that hydrazine induced doping is a promising approach to enable synergistic incorporation of N and Ti3+ into the lattice of surfactant-templated TiO2 films and enhanced visible light photoactivity, but that the benefits are limited by gradual mesostructure deterioration. The plasma treated nitrogen doped mesoporous titania showed about 240 times higher photoactivity compared to undoped film in hydrogen production from photoelectrochemical water splitting under visible light illumination. Plasma treated hydrogen doped mesoporous titania thin films has also been developed for enhancement of visible light absorption. Hydrogen treatment has been shown to turn titania (normally bright white) black, indicating vastly improved visible light absorption. The cause of the color change and its effectiveness for photocatalysis remain open questions. For the first time, we showed that a significant amount of hydrogen is incorporated in hydrogen plasma treated mesoporous titania films by neutron reflectometry measurements. In addition to the intrinsic modification of titania by doping, graphene quantum dot sensitization in mesoporous titania film was also investigated for visible light photocatalysis. Graphene quantum dot sensitization and nitrogen doping of ordered mesoporous titania films showed synergistic effect in water splitting due to high surface area, band gap reduction, enhanced visible light absorption, and efficient charge separation and transport. This study suggests that plasma based doping and graphene quantum dot sensitization are promising strategies to reduce band gap and enhance visible light absorption of high surface area surfactant templated mesoporous titania films, leading to superior visible-light driven photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. The results demonstrate the importance of designing and manipulating the energy band alignment in composite nanomaterials for fundamentally improving visible light absorption, charge separation and transport, and thereby photoelectrochemical properties

Aviation Law Comes Home to the Main Street Lawyer

Well controlled in length and highly aligned ZnO nanorods were grown on the gold-coated glass substrate by hydrothermal growth method. ZnO nanorods were functionalised with selective thallium (I) ion ionophore dibenzyldiaza-18-crown-6 (DBzDA18C6). The thallium ion sensor showed wide linear potentiometric response to thallium (I) ion concentrations ( M to  M) with high sensitivity of 36.87 ± 1.49 mV/decade. Moreover, thallium (I) ion demonstrated fast response time of less than 5 s, high selectivity, reproducibility, storage stability, and negligible response to common interferents. The proposed thallium (I) ion-sensor electrode was also used as an indicator electrode in the potentiometric titration, and it has shown good stoichiometric response for the determination of thallium (I) ion

Characterizations on microencapsulated sunflower oil as self-healing agent using In situ polymerization method

This paper emphasizes the characterization on the microencapsulation of sunflower oil as self-healing agent. In-situ polymerization method mainly implicates in the microencapsulation process. The analysis of microencapsulated sunflower oil via prominent characterization of yield of microcapsules, microcapsules characteristics and Fourier Transmission Infa-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR). The prime optimization used was reaction time of microencapsulation process in the ranges of 2, 3 and 4 h. The higher reaction time of microencapsulation process resulted in a higher yield of microcapsules. The yield of microcapsules increases from 46 to 53% respectively by the increasing of reaction time from 2 to 4 h. The surface morphology study associating the diameter of microcapsules measured to analyse the prepared microcapsules. It was indicated that microcapsules were round in shape with smooth micro-surfaces. It was discovered that the diameter of microcapsules during microencapsulation process after 4 h reaction time was in average of 70.53 μm. This size was measured before filtering the microcapsules with solvent and dried in vacuum oven. Apparently, after filtering and drying stage, the diameter of microcapsules specifically identified under Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) showing the size of 2.33 μm may be due to the removing the suspended oil surrounded the microcapsules. Sunflower oil as core content and urea formaldehyde (UF) as shell of microcapsules demonstrated the proven chemical properties on characterization by FTIR with the stretching peak of 1537.99 - 1538.90 cm-1 (-H in -CH2), 1235.49 - 1238.77 cm-1 (C-O-C Vibrations at Ester) and 1017.65 - 1034.11 cm-1 (C-OH Stretching Vibrations). It was showed that sunflower oil can be considered as an alternative nature resource for self-healing agent in microencapsulation process. The characterization of microencapsulated sunflower oil using in-situ polymerization method showed that sunflower oil was viable self-healing agent to be encapsulated and incorporated in metal coating

Molecular Aspects of Dopaminergic Neurodegeneration: Gene-Environment Interaction in Parkin Dysfunction

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative movement disorder that is characterized pathologically by a progressive loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons and by protein inclusions, designated Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites. PD is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, affecting almost 1% of the population over 60 years old. Although the symptoms and neuropathology of PD have been well characterized, the underlying mechanisms and causes of the disease are still not clear. Genetic mutations can provide important clues to disease mechanism, but most PD cases are sporadic rather than familial; environmental factors have long been suspected to contribute to the disease. Although more than 90% of PD cases occur sporadically and are thought to be due, in part, to oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, the study of genetic mutations has provided great insight into the molecular mechanisms of PD. Furthermore, rotenone, a widely used pesticide, and paraquat and maneb cause a syndrome in rats and mice that mimics, both behaviorally and neurologically, the symptoms of PD. In the current review, we will discuss various aspects of gene-environment interaction that lead to progressive dopaminergic neurodegenration, mainly focusing on our current finding based on stress-mediated parkin dysfunction

Olfactory and behavioural responses of tsetse flies, Glossina spp., to rumen metabolites

Herbivores provide tsetse flies with a blood meal, and both wild and domesticated ruminants dominate as hosts. As volatile metabolites from the rumen are regularly eructed with rumen gas, these products could serve tsetse flies during host searching. To test this, we first established that the odour of rumen fluid is attractive to hungry Glossina pallidipes in a wind tunnel. We then made antennogram recordings from three tsetse species (G.pallidipes morsitans group, G.fuscipes palpalis group and G.brevipalpis fusca group) coupled to gas chromatographic analysis of rumen fluid odour and of its acidic, mildly acidic and neutral fractions. This shows tsetse flies can detect terpenes, ketones, carboxylic acids, aliphatic aldehydes, sulphides, phenols and indoles from this biological substrate. A mixture of carboxylic acids at a ratio similar to that present in rumen fluid induced behavioural responses from G.pallidipes in the wind tunnel that were moderately better than the solvent control. The similarities in the sensory responses of the tsetse fly species to metabolites from ruminants demonstrated in this study testify to a contribution of habitat exploitation by these vertebrates in the Africa-wide distribution of tsets

Antennal Responses of the Two Host Races of the Larch Bud Moth, Zeiraphera diniana , to Larch and Cembran Pine Volatiles

The larch bud moth (LBM) Zeiraphera diniana Guenée causes defoliation on larch in the Alps at 8- to 10-year intervals, after which populations crash. There are two LBM host races, one on larch and the other on cembran pine. These host races are morphologically indistinguishable as adults but they differ genetically in larval color types. Furthermore, females of each host race produce distinct pheromone blends and show oviposition preferences for their respective hosts. It is not clear to what extent host choice contributes to assortative mating in the LBM. Here, we compare the olfactory sensitivities of the two host races to the odors of fresh foliage of the host plants using the electroantennogram (EAG) technique, and the responses of the two host races to volatiles collected from the two host plants as analyzed by gas-chromatography-linked antennographic detection (GC-EAD). Both sexes of the larch and cembran host races show the same EAG responses to vapors of fresh larch and cembran pine foliage. Fifteen plant volatiles identified as chemostimuli by GC-EAD from larch and cembran pine odors elicited the same antennogram responses from the two host races. However, the GC-EAD analyses indicate that the number and quantity of chemostimuli emanating from each host plant is different. It is, therefore, most probably the array of olfactory receptors responding to the bouquet of volatiles unique to each host plant that underlies the host preferences of the two races. What remains open is the extent to which the similarity of the olfactory systems may contribute to cross-attraction. The fact that LBM individuals with intermediate characteristics between the two host races exist, suggests that olfactory perception does not hinder gene flow and contributes to sustained genetic diversity within the species Z. dinian

Characterization of ash derived from combustion of paper mill waste sludge: Comparison with municipal solid waste incinerator ash

Fly ash derived from incineration of Malaysian paper mill waste sludge (PMWS) was physically and chemically characterized in order to determine its potential toxicity as well as its application as cement replacement material. The results were compared with results obtained from similar characterization on Malaysian municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash. Principal analyses conducted include particle size distribution, elemental analysis, toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) as well as thermogravimetric, x-ray diffractometry and FTIR analyses. TCLP result indicated that both the PMWS and MSWI ashes should not be classified as hazardous wastes in terms of heavy metal leachability, since leachable copper, cadmium, lead and nickel concentrations were detected below the stipulated leachability limits. Both ashes could be reused as cement replacement materials since both contained SiO2 which is one of the main building components in cement and concrete utilizations. Nonetheless, PMWS ash could be more suitable as a cement replacement material as compared to MSWI ash, as the former had significantly smaller particle size distribution and lower organic content

Joint measurement of multiple noncommuting parameters

Although quantum metrology allows us to make precision measurements beyond the standard quantum limit, it mostly works on the measurement of only one observable due to the Heisenberg uncertainty relation on the measurement precision of noncommuting observables for one system. In this paper, we study the schemes of joint measurement of multiple observables which do not commute with each other using the quantum entanglement between two systems. We focus on analyzing the performance of a SU(1,1) nonlinear interferometer on fulfilling the task of joint measurement. The results show that the information encoded in multiple noncommuting observables on an optical field can be simultaneously measured with a signal-to-noise ratio higher than the standard quantum limit, and the ultimate limit of each observable is still the Heisenberg limit. Moreover, we find a resource conservation rule for the joint measurement