Preliminary Study on New Alternative Binders through Re-Refined Engine Oil Bottoms (REOBs) and Industrial By-Product Additives

Recent studies have worked towards addressing environmental issues such as global warming and greenhouse gas emissions due to the increasing awareness of the depletion of natural resources. The asphalt industry is seeking to implement measures to reduce its carbon footprint and to promote sustainable operations. The reuse of several wastes and by-products is an example of a more eco-friendly activity that fulfils the circular economy principle. Among all possible solutions, the road pavement sector encourages, on one hand, the use of recycled materials as a partial replacement of the virgin lithic skeleton; on the other hand, it promotes the use of recycled materials to substituting for a portion of the petroleum bituminous binder. This study aims to use Re-refined Engine Oil Bottoms (REOBs) as a main substitute and additives from various industrial by-products as a full replacement for virgin bitumen, producing high-performing alternative binders. The REOBs have been improved by utilizing additives in an attempt to improve their specific properties and thus to bridge the gap between REOBs and traditional bituminous binders. An even larger amount of virgin and non-renewable resources can be saved using these new potential alternative binders together with the RAP aggregates. Thus, the reduction in the use of virgin materials is applied at the binder and the asphalt mixture levels. Rheological, spectroscopic, thermogravimetric, and mechanical analysis were used to characterize the properties, composition, and characteristics of the REOBs, REOB-modified binders, and asphalt mixes. Thanks to the rheological investigations of possible alternative binders, 18 blends were selected, since they behaved like an SBS-modified bitumen, and then they were used for producing the corresponding asphalt mixtures. The preliminary mechanical analysis of the asphalt mixtures shows that six mixes have promising responses in terms of stiffness, tensile resistance, and water susceptibility. Nevertheless, the high variability of recycled materials and by-products has to be taken into consideration during the definition of alternative binders and recycled asphalt mixtures. In fact, this study highlights the crucial effects of the chemical composition of the constituents and their compatibility on the behaviour of the final product. This preliminary study represents a first attempt to define alternative binders, which can be used in combination with recycled aggregates for producing more sustainable road materials. However, further analysis is necessary in order to assess the durability and the ageing tendency of the materials.     

Intracluster Sulphur Dioxide Oxidation by Sodium Chlorite Anions: A Mass Spectrometric Study

The reactivity of [NaL·ClO₂]⁻ cluster anions (L = ClO_x⁻; x = 0–3) with sulphur dioxide has been investigated in the gas phase by ion–molecule reaction experiments (IMR) performed in an in-house modified Ion Trap mass spectrometer (IT-MS). The kinetic analysis revealed that SO₂ is efficiently oxidised by oxygen-atom (OAT), oxygen-ion (OIT) and double oxygen transfer (DOT) reactions. The main difference from the previously investigated free reactive ClO₂⁻ is the occurrence of intracluster OIT and DOT processes, which are mediated by the different ligands of the chlorite anion. This gas-phase study highlights the importance of studying the intrinsic properties of simple reacting species, with the aim of elucidating the elementary steps of complex processes occurring in solution, such as the oxidation of sulphur dioxide.     

Synthesis,Chemical–Physical Characterization,and Biomedical Applications of Functional Gold Nanoparticles: A Review

Relevant properties of gold nanoparticles, such as stability and biocompatibility, together with their peculiar optical and electronic behavior, make them excellent candidates for medical and biological applications. This review describes the different approaches to the synthesis, surface modification, and characterization of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) related to increasing their stability and available features useful for employment as drug delivery systems or in hyperthermia and photothermal therapy. The synthetic methods reported span from the well-known Turkevich synthesis, reduction with NaBH₄ with or without citrate, seeding growth, ascorbic acid-based, green synthesis, and Brust–Schiffrin methods. Furthermore, the nanosized functionalization of the AuNP surface brought about the formation of self-assembled monolayers through the employment of polymer coatings as capping agents covalently bonded to the nanoparticles. The most common chemical–physical characterization techniques to determine the size, shape and surface coverage of AuNPs are described underlining the structure–activity correlation in the frame of their applications in the biomedical and biotechnology sectors.     

Acoustic Analysis of Voice Quality with or without False Vocal Fold Displacement After Cordectomy

Conventional cordectomy by means of a laryngofissure is one of the therapeutic options for treatment of early glottic cancer. To improve the poor voice quality related to this kind of operation, many authors have developed different techniques to repair the mucosal defect. We analyzed voice quality acoustically and compared it after cordectomy alone and after cordectomy with the reconstruction of the vocal cord in a group of 14 patients affected by T1 glottic carcinoma. All the patients underwent postoperative speech therapy. Three patients who underwent cordectomy with reconstruction showed the presence of diplophonia, while two patients without reconstruction showed the presence of bitonality. The differences of the acoustic parameters (jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio) between the two groups of patients were not statistically significant. Reconstruction of the vocal cord does not seem to improve voice quality after cordectomy even in combination with postoperative speech therapy.     

Maximum and minimum between fuzzy symbols in non-interactive and weakly non-interactive situations

We define fuzzy symbols as particular fuzzy sets whose membership functions operate between two linearly ordered spaces, and study the operations of maximum and of minimum between two fuzzy symbols. We consider the membership functions of the fuzzy symbols as possibility distributions. We study those of the maximum and the minimum of two non-interactive and weakly non-interactive variables.     

Lipophilicity Behavior of Model and Medicinal Compounds containing a suilfide,sulfoxide, or sulfone moiety

This study was designed to unravel lipophilicity changes associated with the oxidation state of the S-atom in model compounds, drugs, and metabolites, special attention being given both to intermolecular and intramolecular effects. The methods used were experimental (potentiometry, CPC, and shake-flask techniques to measure lipophilicity, ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy to investigate tautomeric equilibria) and computational (quenched molecular dynamics and molecular lipophilicity potential). Simple, monofunctional model compounds were used to assess intermolecular forces, as revealed by the Δlog P_oct–alk and Δlog P_oct–chf parameters. Drugs and their metabolites proved to be good probes to study intramolecular effects in both neutral and anionic forms, as revealed by the difference between calculated and experimental log P_oct values (the diff(log P^exp–calc) parameter). Sulindac and its metabolites showed a normal partitioning behavior, whereas the lipophilicity of sulfmpyrazone and its metabolites' was markedly affected by tautomeric and conformational equilibria.     

GC-MS analytical methods for the determination of personal-care products in water matrices

This article discusses the more recent methods combining gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for analysis of personal-care products (PCPs) in water matrices. We describe different procedures for sample extraction and preparation as well as different instrumental methods commonly used for these compounds. GC-MS and GC-tandem MS (GC-MS²), which are complementary to liquid chromatography combined with MS (LC-MS), allow identification and quantification of PCPs belonging to different classes with the sensitivity and the selectivity necessary for environmental monitoring. The compounds investigated include fragrances (e.g., nitro and polycyclic musks), antimicrobial compounds (e.g., triclosan), ultraviolet blockers (e.g., methylbenzylidene camphor), antioxidants and preservatives (e.g., phenols and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (parabens)) and insect repellents (e.g., N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET)). We critically review data in the literature by focusing attention on analytical methods devoted to simultaneous detection and quantification of structurally diverse pharmaceuticals and PCPs.     

Adsorption of CH3 COOH on TiO2: IR and theoretical investigations

Adsorption of organic molecules on TiO₂ surfaces is widely used in a number of technological applications, from heterogeneous catalysis, in particular photodegradation of organic pollutants, to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), where in most cases the dye molecules are grafted to the anatase TiO₂ surface through a carboxylic group. In particular, organic/TiO₂ systems can be of relevant importance in the modeling of electronic devices, in which the molecular layer is able to finely tune the electric properties, as well as of highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts. A key step is the understanding of the nature of the carbon-oxygen-titanium bonds on such surfaces, which is the specific aim of our combined IR and ab initio study of the adsorption of CH₃COOH on TiO₂. The experimental determination of the CH₃COOH frequency shifts due to the absorption on the P25 (Degussa) TiO₂ surface was performed by means of a step-wise procedure, consisting of a preliminary outgassing at 600°C of TiO₂, in order to have a high dehydroxilation degree of the surface, followed by IR measurements at increasing CH₃COOH pressure and subsequent desorption. Frequency calculations to be compared with experimental results were performed within a cluster approach using GAUSSIAN03 package. In order to make such calculations feasible, we decided to use an ONIOM approach where the model system, i.e., the small portion corresponding to CH₃COOH plus the surface atoms, is treated at DFT level while the real system, comprising the bulk atoms, at MSINDO level. Once properly tested the ONIOM approach to characterize the interaction of TiO₂ with CH₃COOH, we computed the vibrational frequencies and compared them with the results of the IR experiments, providing some insight for the interpretation of the experimental complex vibrational pattern.     

Optical properties of silicon clusters in the presence of water: a first principles theoretical analysis

We investigate the impact of water on the optical absorption of prototypical silicon clusters. Our clusters contain 5 silicon atoms, tetrahedrally coordinated and passivated with either hydrogen or oxygen. We approach this complex problem by assessing the contributions of three factors: chemical reactivity, thermal equilibration, and dielectric screening. We find that the silanone (Si=O) functional group is not chemically stable in the presence of water and exclude this as a source of significant red shift in absorption in aqueous environments. We perform first principles molecular dynamics simulations of the solvation of a chemically stable, oxygenated silicon cluster with explicit water molecules at 300 K. We find a systematic 0.7 eV red shift in the absorption gap of this cluster, which we attribute to thermally induced fluctuations in the molecular structure. Surprisingly, we find no observable screening impact of the solvent, in contrast with consistent blue shifts observed for similarly sized organic molecules in polar solvents. The predicted red shift is expected to be significantly smaller for larger Si quantum dots produced experimentally, guaranteeing that their vacuum optical properties are preserved even in aqueous environments.     

XPS characterization ofγ-zirconium phosphate and of some of its intercalation compounds. A comparison with the α-zirconium phosphate analogues

An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic investigation of-Zr (HP0₄)₂·2 H₂O and its intercalation compounds with 1,10-phenanthroline, Co²⁺-phenanthroline and Cu²⁺-phenanthroline is described. The analysis of theNls spectra of the compound containing only phenanthroline clearly shows that, on average, more than one nitrogen atom of the diamine interacts with the acid groups of the host, giving protonated species. XPS also provides evidence of the coordination of Co²⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions after their diffusion in the phenanthroline--zirconium phosphate intercalation compound. They form mixed N-and O-coordinated species with the diamine and the oxygens of the interlayer region, but the presence of the characteristic peaks of uncoordinated phenanthroline, even at low intensity, shows that the diamine molecules anchored to the host are still present.A comparison is made with the analogous derivatives of -Zr (HPO₄)₂·H₂O and the differences between the two series of compounds are discussed.