On the study of the effects of sea views, greenery views and personal characteristics on noise annoyance perception at homes

Noise annoyance has caused significant adverse impacts on human beings and numerous efforts have been spent on mitigating annoyance problems. Natural greenery has been shown to be able to moderate annoyance problems at home but this conclusion was drawn without properly controlling the potential confounding factors. Furthermore, few have explored the moderation effect of a sea view. Accordingly, this study formulated a multivariate model to examine the impacts of natural views as well as personal characteristics on annoyance perception. A housing estate was selected in Hong Kong as the survey site for which some of the residents were exposed to greenery views, sea views, or both from their homes. Eight hundred and sixty-one responses were collected via questionnaire surveys and analyzed using an ordered logit model. The results suggest that both a greenery view and a sea view can moderate annoyance responses. Several individual's personal characteristics are found to affect individuals' annoyance perception. The duration of time spent daily at home is shown to have an influence on the moderation impact exerted by a greenery view, while the age of an individual is shown to have an influence on noise moderation effect exerted by a sea view.     

Synthesis and characterization of random and block copolymers with pendant rhenium diimine complexes by controlled radical polymerization

We report the polymerization of rhenium‐containing methacrylates by atom transfer radical polymerization. The structure of the monomer was confirmed by X‐ray crystallography, which showed the bulkiness of the metal‐complex moiety. The rhenium complexes were polymerized in the presence of copper(I) bromide, 1,1,4,7,7‐pentamethyldiethylenetriamine, and methyl 2‐bromopropionate. They were copolymerized with methyl methacrylate in different monomer ratios. An ABA triblock copolymer was also synthesized with poly(methyl methacrylate) as the macroinitiator. When 2,2′‐bipyridine was used as the ligand for the copper catalyst in the polymerizations, it underwent a ligand exchange process with the iminopyridine ligand in the monomer. The neutral rhenium complex in the homopolymers and copolymers could be converted into ionic forms by the replacement of the chloride with an imidazole ligand, and the solubility of the resulting ionic polymers was greatly enhanced. The photosensitizing properties of the doped and undoped polymer films were investigated by the measurement of the photocurrent response under an externally applied electric field. The photoconductivities of the polymers were approximately 10^?12–10^?13 Ω^?1 cm^?1. The experimental quantum efficiencies were simulated with Onsager's theory, and they showed that the initial quantum yield and thermalization distance were 10^?3 and 1.7 nm, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the rhenium complexes aggregated to form domains with dimensions of approximately 20–30 nm. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 1292–1308, 2005     

Ionic‐liquid‐based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for high‐throughput multiple food contaminant screening

This paper describes an innovation of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction enabling multiple‐component analysis of eight high‐priority food contaminants in two chemically distinctive families: Sudan dyes and phthalate plasticizers. To provide convenient sample handling for solid and solid‐containing matrices, a modified dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction procedure used an extractant precoated frit to perform simultaneous filtration, solvent mixing, and phase dispersion in one simple step. A binary ionic liquid extractant system was carefully tuned to deliver high quality analysis based only on affordable LC with diode array detector instrumentation. The method is comprehensively validated for robust quantification with good precision (6.9–9.8% RSD) in a linear 2–1000 μg/L range. Having accomplished enrichment factors up to 451, the treatment enables sensitive detection at 0.09–1.01 μg/L levels. Analysis of six high‐risk solid condiments and sauces further verified its practical applicability within a 70–120% recovery range. Compared to other approaches, the current dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction treatment offers major advantages in terms of minimal solvent (1.5 mL) and sample (0.1 g) consumption, ultra‐high analytical throughput (6 min), and the ability to handle complex solid matrices. The idea of performing simultaneous analysis for multiple contaminants presented here fosters a more effective mode of operation in food control routines.     

A high-throughput microfluidic biochip to quantify bacterial adhesion to single host cells by real-time PCR assay

A high-throughput microfluidic poly-(dimethylsiloxane) biochip was developed to quantify bacterial adhesion to single host cells by real-time PCR assay. The biochip is simply structured with a two-dimensional array of 900 micro-wells, one inlet, and one outlet micro-channels. Isolation of single infected host cells into the individual micro-wells of the biochip was achieved by one-step vacuum-driven microfluidics. The adhered bacterial cells were then quantified by direct on-chip real-time PCR assay with single-bacterium-detection sensitivity. The performance of this microfluidic platform was demonstrated through profiling of the association of a common bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, to single host human lung epithelial A549 cells, revealing an adherence distribution that has not been previously reported. This microfluidic platform offers a simple and effective tool for biologists to analyze pathogen–host interaction at the single-cell level without the necessities of fluorescence labeling. The chip can similarly be used for other PCR-based applications requiring single-cell analysis.     

Time-resolved resonance Raman and computational investigation of the influence of 4-acetamido and 4-N-methylacetamido substituents on the chemistry of phenylnitrene

A time-resolved resonance Raman (TR(3)) and computational investigation of the photochemistry of 4-acetamidophenyl azide and 4-N-methylacetamidophenyl azide in acetonitrile is presented. Photolysis of 4-acetamidophenyl azide appears to initially produce singlet 4-acetamidophenylnitrene which undergoes fast intersystem crossing (ISC) to form triplet 4-acetamidophenylnitrene. The latter species formally produces 4,4'-bisacetamidoazobenzene. RI-CC2/TZVP and TD-B3LYP/TZVP calculations predict the formation of the singlet nitrene from the photogenerated S(1) surface of the azide excited state. The triplet 4-acetamidophenylnitrene and 4,4'-bisacetamidoazobenzene species are both clearly observed on the nanosecond to microsecond time-scale in TR(3) experiments. In contrast, only one species can be observed in analogous TR(3) experiments after photolysis of 4-N-methylacetamidophenyl azide in acetonitrile, and this species is tentatively assigned to the compound resulting from dimerization of a 1,2-didehydroazepine. The different photochemical reaction outcomes for the photolysis of 4-acetamidophenyl azide and 4-N-methylacetamidophenyl azide molecules indicate that the 4-acetamido group has a substantial influence on the ISC rate of the corresponding substituted singlet phenylnitrene, but the 4-N-methylacetamido group does not. CASSCF analyses predict that both singlet nitrenes have open-shell electronic configurations and concluded that the dissimilarity in the photochemistry is probably due to differential geometrical distortions between the states. We briefly discuss the probable implications of this intriguing substitution effect on the photochemistry of phenyl azides and the chemistry of the related nitrenes.     

Determination of closantel and rafoxanide in animal tissues by online anionic mixed-mode solid-phase extraction followed by isotope dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid and high-throughput isotope dilution LC-MS/MS method with online sample pre-concentration and clean-up using anionic mixed-mode SPE was described for the determination of closantel and rafoxanide in edible bovine and ovine tissues. Tissue samples were extracted with acetonitrile and acetone mixture (60:40, v/v). Sample pre-concentration, clean-up and analysis were completed simultaneously with the online MAX SPE LC-MS/MS system. Closantel-(13) C(6) and rafoxanide-(13) C(6) were used as the internal standards to improve the precision of the method. The method was validated with edible ovine and bovine tissues (muscle, kidney and liver) fortified at three different levels. The accuracy and RSD were 86-106% and ≤14%, respectively. This high-throughput method was suitable for routine quantitative analysis of closantel and rafoxanide in food safety surveillance samples.     

Advancements and current challenges in the sustainable downstream processing of bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates

Diminishing sources of synthetic plastics and their unsustainable production processes have increased the demand for alternative biodegradable and sustainable polymers. Bacterial biopolymer-producing factories can carry out large-scale production of such alternatives using improved fermentation techniques, such as fed-batch and pulsed feeding of inducers, that can increase bacterial biopolymer accumulation. However, the successive downstream processing (DSP) techniques still pose challenges in making the production process both economically and environmentally sustainable. These challenges are mostly associated with biomass pre-treatment, the use of solvents, and the embedded parameters of the DSP techniques. Conventional halogenated/chlorinated solvents can be substituted with green solvents to yield PHAs of high purity (98%) for high-end applications and to establish a sustainable circular economy. As an economically and environmentally sustainable approach, the use of recycled waste as a substrate and greener extraction solvents for bacterial biopolymer production should be further explored for the efficient replacement of synthetic plastic production.