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

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

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

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

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

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

Correlation of foraminal area and response to cervical nerve root injections

Ray et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 3.0., which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium

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

Evaluation of the surface chemistry and drug-polymer interaction of semi-crystalline micro-particles for the development of controlled release formulations

This research work explores the surface chemistry and drug-polymer interaction in the manufactured controlled release micro-particles. Isoniazid (INH) was used as a model anti-tubercular drug while Eudragit® S100 (S100), Eudragit® L100-55 based co-processed Acryl EZE (EZE) and Ethylcellulose ECN10 (ECN10) were used as polymeric carriers. INH containing micro-particles were prepared using a mini spray dryer B-290 (Buchi, Switzerland). The drug polymer ratios were optimized at 1:1 and 1:3 to evaluate the effect of polymers on the release of the drug from the micro-particles. Solid state characterization via SEM and particle size analysis of the manufactured micro-particles showed densely aggregated spherical particles with a mean diameter < 10 μm. The advanced surface analysis via EDS revealed a homogenous drug distribution on the spray dried micro-particles. The physico-chemical characterization carried out by using DSC and XRPD showed an increase in the amorphicity of the drug during the spray drying process while the chemical elemental analysis via XPS revealed a strong intermolecular interaction between the amine group of the drug and the carboxyl group of the polymers. As expected, the in vitro dissolution study showed a slow release pattern for the highly water soluble drug INH in acidic media (pH 1.2) for the first 2 h followed by a burst release upon changing the pH to 6.8. It was concluded that emerging spray drying processing can be used as a valuable tool to encapsulate drug for controlled release dosage forms by means of facilitating a possible drug/polymer interaction as outlined by novel XPS analysis