Sustainable Cement Composite Integrating Waste Cellulose Fibre: A Comprehensive Review.

This review presents the research conducted to date in the field of cement-based composites reinforced with waste paper-based cellulose fibres, focusing on their composition, mechanical properties, and durability characteristics. The literature demonstrates that the properties of raw material (depending on their own chemical composition) significantly influence the formation of the cement composite binders. When considering fresh properties, the presence of silica and magnesium compounds generally lead to favourable effects on the setting of the cement composite when combined with waste paper cellulose fibre. Reduction in density values, i.e., approximately 25%, was observed with the inclusion of waste paper fibres from 20 to 80% in cement composites. The homogeneous dispersion of fibres in the matrix is one of the crucial factors to achieve in order to develop composites with well-balanced mechanical properties incorporating waste paper cellulose fibres. Hence, dispersion of fibres can be improved by increasing water quantity corresponding to the optimal value, which was a water/cement ratio of 0.64 leading to optimum strength properties of the composite. Even though the effect of fibre dispersion in the matrix improves with the addition of water, higher porosity and voids govern the strength properties beyond an optimum water-to-cement ratio. Higher porosity leads to an increase in the water absorption and a lowering of the thermal conductivity properties with the addition of paper fibre in cement binders. Paper fibre absorbs a high amount of water leading to higher water absorption. This phenomenon is related to the hydrophilic nature of cellulosic fibres absorbing some volume of water due to their microporous structure.

Advanced Glycation End-Products and Their Effects on Gut Health.

Dietary advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are a heterogeneous group of compounds formed when reducing sugars are heated with proteins, amino acids, or lipids at high temperatures for a prolonged period. The presence and accumulation of AGEs in numerous cell types and tissues are known to be prevalent in the pathology of many diseases. Modern diets, which contain a high proportion of processed foods and therefore a high level of AGE, cause deleterious effects leading to a multitude of unregulated intracellular and extracellular signalling and inflammatory pathways. Currently, many studies focus on investigating the chemical and structural aspects of AGEs and how they affect the metabolism and the cardiovascular and renal systems. Studies have also shown that AGEs affect the digestive system. However, there is no complete picture of the implication of AGEs in this area. The gastrointestinal tract is not only the first and principal site for the digestion and absorption of dietary AGEs but also one of the most susceptible organs to AGEs, which may exert many local and systemic effects. In this review, we summarise the current evidence of the association between a high-AGE diet and poor health outcomes, with a special focus on the relationship between dietary AGEs and alterations in the gastrointestinal structure, modifications in enteric neurons, and microbiota reshaping.

Engineering Performance of Concrete Incorporated with Recycled High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)-A Systematic Review.

Incorporating recycled plastic waste in concrete manufacturing is one of the most ecologically and economically sustainable solutions for the rapid trends of annual plastic disposal and natural resource depletion worldwide. This paper comprehensively reviews the literature on engineering performance of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) incorporated in concrete in the forms of aggregates or fiber or cementitious material. Optimum 28-days' compressive and flexural strength of HDPE fine aggregate concrete is observed at HDPE-10 and splitting tensile strength at HDPE-5 whereas for HDPE coarse aggregate concrete, within the range of 10% to 15% of HDPE incorporation and at HDPE-15, respectively. Similarly, 28-days' flexural and splitting tensile strength of HDPE fiber reinforced concrete is increased to an optimum of 4.9 MPa at HDPE-3 and 4.4 MPa at HDPE-3.5, respectively, and higher than the standard/plain concrete matrix (HDPE-0) in all HDPE inclusion levels. Hydrophobicity, smooth surface texture and non-reactivity of HDPE has resulted in weaker bonds between concrete matrix and HDPE and thereby reducing both mechanical and durability performances of HDPE concrete with the increase of HDPE. Overall, this is the first ever review to present and analyze the current state of the mechanical and durability performance of recycled HDPE as a sustainable construction material, hence, advancing the research into better performance and successful applications of HDPE concrete.

Review on the Use of Artificial Intelligence to Predict Fire Performance of Construction Materials and Their Flame Retardancy.

The evaluation and interpretation of the behavior of construction materials under fire conditions have been complicated. Over the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a reliable method to tackle this engineering problem. This review summarizes existing studies that applied AI to predict the fire performance of different construction materials (e.g., concrete, steel, timber, and composites). The prediction of the flame retardancy of some structural components such as beams, columns, slabs, and connections by utilizing AI-based models is also discussed. The end of this review offers insights on the advantages, existing challenges, and recommendations for the development of AI techniques used to evaluate the fire performance of construction materials and their flame retardancy. This review offers a comprehensive overview to researchers in the fields of fire engineering and material science, and it encourages them to explore and consider the use of AI in future research projects.

The Potential Use of Hypochlorous Acid and a Smart Prefabricated Sanitising Chamber to Reduce Occupation-Related COVID-19 Exposure.

This work is part of a project on the development of a smart prefabricated sanitising chamber (SPSC) to provide extra measures against the transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Stabilised hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is an approved disinfectant against SARS-CoV-2 by the Environmental Protection Association US in its liquid form on non-porous surfaces. This review is extended to cover its viricidal/bactericidal efficacy in aerosolised or sprayed form which showed an effective dose of as low as 20 ppm and the exposure duration of at least 60 s. The aerosolised application was also recommended with particle size of less than 200 µm to increase the contact with pathogens. The review also includes the safety and toxicity of HOCl with different concentrations. The review calls for more investigations into the effect of HOCl in mist and fog form on the respiratory system when transitioning through the proposed SPSC.

Correspondence bias of Chinese and American undergraduates: similar initial trait attributions but different situational corrections.

Correspondence bias (CB) refers to individuals' tendency to make trait inferences regarding the constrained behavior of others. To investigate the influences of the attitude diagnosticity of behavior and situational constraints on CB in a cross-cultural context, a sample of 357 Chinese undergraduates (140 males, 39.2%) aged 17-27 years old (M age = 21.13, SD = 1.94) and 252 American undergraduates (111 males, 44%) aged 16 to 24 years old (M age = 20.39, SD = 1.70) took part in a modified attitude attribution task. The results of analysis of covariance showed that (a) Americans and Chinese undergraduates produced similar patterns in which CB decreased with the attitude diagnosticity of behavior, while (b) only Chinese undergraduates' CB decreased as situational constraints increased. These results indicated that the initial trait attributions were similar for individuals in America and China, but there were cultural differences in the stage with situational constraints.

Effective methodologies for enantiomeric separations of 150 pharmacology and toxicology related 1°, 2°, and 3° amines with core-shell chiral stationary phases.

Core-shell particles (superficially porous particles, SPPs) have been proven to provide high-throughput and effective separations of a variety of chiral molecules. However, due to their limited commercialization, many separations have not been reported with these stationary phases. In this study, four SPP chiral stationary phases (CSPs) were utilized for the enantiomeric separation of 150 chiral amines. These amines encompass a variety of structural and drug classes, which are particularly important to the pharmaceutical industry and in forensics. This comprehensive evaluation demonstrates the power of these CSPs and the ease of method development and optimization. The CSPs used in this study included the macrocyclic glycopeptide-based CSPs (VancoShell and NicoShell), the cyclodextrin-based CSP (CDShell-RSP), and the cyclofructan-based CSP (LarihcShell-P). These CSPs offered versatility for a variety of applications and worked in a complementary fashion to baseline separate all 150 amines. The LarihcShell-P was highly effective for separating primary amines. VancoShell, NicoShell, and CDShell-RSP were useful for separating all types of amines. These CSPs are multi-modal and can be utilized with mass spectrometry compatible solvents. Eighteen racemic controlled substances were simultaneously baseline separated in a single liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. Details in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) parameters will be discussed as well as the improved chromatographic performance afforded by the SPP CSPs.

Quinine bonded to superficially porous particles for high-efficiency and ultrafast liquid and supercritical fluid chromatography.

Two new anion-exchange columns were prepared by bonding tert-butyl carbamoylated quinine to 2.7 µm superficially porous particle (SPP) silica to create chiral stationary phases for high-efficiency and ultrafast chromatography. Performance and retention parameters of these new columns are compared with an analogous 5 µm fully porous particle (FPP) based Chiralpak QNAX column and a 3-4 fold increase in efficiency was observed. Ultrafast separations ranging from 12 s down to sub-second are shown using 2.7 µm SPPs bonded via hydrosilation to the selector. Potential benefits of 2.7 µm SPP based columns for increased LC-MS compatibility were investigated. A van Deemter plot comparison showed 2.7 µm SPP based columns provided a lower reduced plate height and a higher optimal linear velocity compared to the 5 µm FPP based column. With geometry-independent kinetic plots, 2.7 µm SPP and 5 µm FPP based columns were assessed for their kinetic performance and the maximal number of plates each column can generate in a given analysis time. The 2.7 µm SPP based column showed remarkable performance improvements in speed and efficiency as indicated by the kinetic plots.

How to use antibiotics

The article introduced the way of treatment for infective diseases basing on microbiological and pathological studies, include pneumonia and hospital acquired infections, including meningeal infection, bacteremia and urinary tract infection.