Closed-Loop Liming and Tanning Systems

Content: To reduce the environmental impact of tanneries at source for all types of leather, a series of investigations started at laboratory, then large pilot scale, to rationalise liming and tanning processes. This included the elimination of washes at the end of these processes, with retention of residual processing floats at maximum concentration as a chemical resource for reuse in subsequent processing. Adopted by four tanneries manufacturing more than 70,000 hides per week to the chromium tanned state, analysis detailing the equalisation of ions and solubles within these closed-loops was possible, and the subsequent release mechanisms. Large scale wet blue units specifically built to match the technology are now in the final stages of construction. From foundation level these differ from normal design, also uses of equipment, management of discharges, and plant operation. Low-impact chemical processing is locked into the fabric of these new tanneries. The technology has also spread to large scale nappa sheepskin production. And at cottage scale, thirty small tanneries in a tanning cluster processing sheep, goat, and bovine leathers to the wet blue are already changed their processing to meet a policy of no chromium discharges from their tanning areas by June 2019. The aims of low-impact manufacture, where the use of active chemicals is complete, quality fully maintained, and waste minimised are being met. This new approach to leather making offers considerable benefits at both large and small scale for wet blue manufacture. Take-Away: Closed loop systems for liming and tanning are highly effective in leather manufacture. Hight quality leathers can result fron this technology. There are considerable savings in chemical use and minimisation of waste water treatment

Formation of Metal Oxides Based Surface Nanolenses and Their Optical Properties

An emerging resource in the production of renewable energy are nanolenses, due to their unique optical properties. Their ability to refract light makes it possible for them to focus light and convert it into other forms of energy; which reduces the need for burning fossil fuels.   nanolens, nanodroplets, optical properties, fluid cell, surface nanolens The formation of nanolenses occurs due to the process of solvent exchange. In this process, different concentrations of a ternary mixture comprising of oleic acid, water, and ethanol are used to create an ideal formation of nanodroplets. A mixture of iron (IV) chloride and manganese chloride is then washed over the droplets to create the droplet’s shell. The droplets are then annealed at 300°C in order to remove all excess liquid, leaving behind the hollow nanolenses. This process was carried out on two different substrates, silicon wafer and glass with similar results transpiring on both.  After various trials, it can be concluded that the ideal concentration ratio of oleic acid/water/ethanol is 4.25/30/70, as the lenses are homogeneous in size, volume, and distribution. Allowing them to remain intact through the annealing process. These findings can be applied to further studies in the use of nanolenses concerning light refraction, and the consequential production of renewable energy

Body Dissatisfaction and Body Change Behaviors among Indonesian and Chinese College Students

Being in transition period between adolescent and adulthood, college students are still affected by physical, psychological, and socio-emotional changes. The physical changes during adolescence give rise to great concern about body shape and size until they enter adulthood, so they tend to feel dissatisfied and try some efforts to change their body shape and size. The dissatisfaction toward one's body or specific body parts is called body dissatisfaction,whereas efforts to change one's body shape or size refers to body change behavior The aim of this studywas to investigate the correlation between body dissatisfaction and body change behavior among Indonesian and Chinese college students. Subjects are both female and male college students from University of Surabaya (N=50) and Zhejiang University of Technology (N=50), aged 17-25 years. This is a quantitative study and data are collected using questionnaires. The results showed that: (I) there was a significant correlation behveen body dissatisfaction and body change behavior (to lose weight) among Indonesian college students (r= .407, sig.= .003 (< .01)), whereas there was no significant correlation among Chinese (r= ,158, sig.=.272 (> .05)); (2) there was no significant correlation between body dissatisfaction and body change behavior (to increase muscle bulk) either among Indonesian (r=,086, sig.=.552 (>.05)) or Chinese college students (r= ,054, sig.=707 (>.05)). The results will be discussed later

Divergence in function and expression of the NOD26-like intrinsic proteins in plants

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs) that belong to the aquaporin superfamily are plant-specific and exhibit a similar three-dimensional structure. Experimental evidences however revealed that functional divergence should have extensively occurred among NIP genes. It is therefore intriguing to further investigate the evolutionary mechanisms being responsible for the functional diversification of the NIP genes. To better understand this process, a comprehensive analysis including the phylogenetic, positive selection, functional divergence, and transcriptional analysis was carried out.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The origination of NIPs could be dated back to the primitive land plants, and their diversification would be no younger than the emergence time of the moss <it>P. patens</it>. The rapid proliferation of NIPs in plants may be primarily attributed to the segmental chromosome duplication produced by polyploidy and tandem duplications. The maximum likelihood analysis revealed that <it>NIPs </it>should have experienced strong selective pressure for adaptive evolution after gene duplication and/or speciation, prompting the formation of distinct <it>NIP </it>groups. Functional divergence analysis at the amino acid level has provided strong statistical evidence for shifted evolutionary rate and/or radical change of the physiochemical properties of amino acids after gene duplication, and DIVERGE2 has identified the critical amino acid sites that are thought to be responsible for the divergence for further investigation. The expression of plant NIPs displays a distinct tissue-, cell-type-, and developmental specific pattern, and their responses to various stress treatments are quite different also. The differences in organization of <it>cis</it>-acting regulatory elements in the promoter regions may partially explain their distinction in expression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A number of analyses both at the DNA and amino acid sequence levels have provided strong evidences that plant NIPs have suffered a high divergence in function and expression during evolution, which is primarily attributed to the strong positive selection or a rapid change of evolutionary rate and/or physiochemical properties of some critical amino acid sites.</p