Impact of COVID-19 (2020-2022) on cotton and garments market of Bangladesh: a small country case. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

Bangladesh imports roughly 98% of cotton from abroad to produce fabric or yarn (USDA 2020. Cotton and Products Update. Bangladesh. Also available at https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Cotton%20and%20Products%20Update_Dhaka_Bangladesh_11-30-2020). The production of textiles in Bangladesh depends on the price of raw material, the demand for garment products in the importing countries, smooth supply chain management, and the domestic supply of cheap garment laborers. The global pandemic of COVID-19 disrupted the supply chain of almost all physical goods and services, including textiles. It caused the price of textiles to fall due to a drop in worldwide demand, and increased the marginal cost of textile production due to supply chain interruptions. This paper shows how the decline in the demand for garments, coupled with an increase in cost, shrinks the producer welfare of textile manufacturing and garment exports of the small producing country, Bangladesh.

Biodegradable Bio-based Material for Wearable Air Filtering Skin

COVID-19, imagine having a temporary lip sticker that offers the protection of an n95 mask without the uncomfortable bulk. Using green electrospun nanofibers the lip sticker filters the virus and can communicate geospatial data to your phone using embedded NFC technology. Available in different designs and skins, some fiber formations can display temperature changes on your face. This paper investigates several prototypes of the described product. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Smart and functional textiles

Smart and Functional Textiles is an application-oriented book covering a wide range of areas from multifunctional nanofinished textiles, coated and laminated textiles, wearable e-textiles, textile-based sensors and actuators, thermoregulating textiles, to smart medical textiles and stimuli-responsive textiles. It also includes chapters on 3D printed smart textiles, automotive smart textiles, smart textiles in military and defense, as well as functional textiles used in care and diagnosis of Covid-19. • Overview of smart textiles and their multidirectional applications • Materials, processes, advanced techniques, design and performance of smart fabrics • Fundamentals, advancements, current challenges and future perspectives of smart textiles. © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

Viruses as biomaterials

Viruses lacking the capacity to infect mammals exhibit minimal toxicity, good biocompatibility, and well-defined structures. As self-organized biomolecular assemblies, they can be produced from standard biological techniques on a large scale at a low cost. Genetic, chemical, self-assembly, and mineralization techniques have been applied to allow them to display functional peptides or proteins, encapsulate therapeutic drugs and genes, assemble with other materials, and be conjugated with bioactive molecules, enabling them to bear different biochemical properties. So far, a variety of viruses (infecting bacteria, plants, or animals), as well as their particle variants, have been used as biomaterials to advance human disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Specifically, the virus-based biomaterials can serve as multifunctional nanocarriers for targeted therapy, antimicrobial agents for infectious disease treatment, hierarchically structured scaffolds for guiding cellular differentiation and promoting tissue regeneration, versatile platforms for ultrasensitive disease detection, tissue-targeting probes for precision bioimaging, and effective vaccines and immunotherapeutic agents for tackling challenging diseases. This review provides an in-depth discussion of these exciting applications. It also gives an overview of the viruses from materials science perspectives and attempts to correlate the structures, properties, processing, and performance of virus-based biomaterials. It describes the use of virus-based biomaterials for preventing and treating COVID-19 and discusses the challenges and future directions of virus-based biomaterials research. It summarizes the progressive clinical trials of using viruses in humans. With the impressive progress made in the exciting field of virus-based biomaterials, it is clear that viruses are playing key roles in advancing important areas in biomedicine such as early detection and prevention, drug delivery, infectious disease treatment, cancer therapy, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Materials Science & Engineering: R is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Research Acceleration in Self-Driving Labs: Technological Roadmap toward Accelerated Materials and Molecular Discovery

The urgency of finding solutions to global energy, sustainability, and healthcare challenges has motivated rethinking of the conventional chemistry and material science workflows. Self-driving labs, emerged through integration of disruptive physical and digital technologies, including robotics, additive manufacturing, reaction miniaturization, and artificial intelligence, have the potential to accelerate the pace of materials and molecular discovery by 10–100X. Using autonomous robotic experimentation workflows, self-driving labs enable access to a larger part of the chemical universe and reduce the time-to-solution through an iterative hypothesis formulation, intelligent experiment selection, and automated testing. By providing a data-centric ion to the accelerated discovery cycle, in this perspective article, the required hardware and software technological infrastructure to unlock the true potential of self-driving labs is discussed. In particular, process intensification as an accelerator mechanism for reaction modules of self-driving labs and digitalization strategies to further accelerate the discovery cycle in chemical and materials sciences are discussed.

JOM TALKS WITH 2022 TMS PRESIDENT JUD READY

An interview with TMS President Jud Ready is presented. Among other things, Ready talks about the future of TMS and shares his greatest contribution as president.

Facile fabrication of phenylenediamine residue derived N, O co-doped hierarchical hyperporous carbon for high-efficient chloroxylenol removal

The chloroxylenol (PCMX) has shown well virucidal efficacy against COVID-19, but the large-scale utilization of which will undoubtedly pose extra environmental threaten. In the present study, the recycled industrial phenylenediamine residue was used and an integrated strategy of "carbonization-casting-activation" using super low-dose of activator and templates was established to achieve in-situ N/O co-doping and facile synthesis of a kind of hierarchical hyperporous carbons (HHPC). The sample of HHPC-1.25-0.5 obtained with activator and template to residue of 1.25 and 0.5 respectively shows super-high specific surface area of 3602 m2/g and volume of 2.81 cm3/g and demonstrates remarkable adsorption capacity of 1475 mg/g for PCMX in batch and of 1148 mg/g in dynamic column adsorption test. In addition, the HHPC-1.25-0.5 exhibits excellent reusability and tolerance for PCMX adsorption under various ionic backgrounds and real water matrix conditions. The combined physio-chemistry characterization, kinetic study and DFT calculation reveal that the enhanced high performances originate from the hierarchical pore structure and strong electrostatic interaction between PCMX and surface rich pyridinic-N and carbonyl groups.

Modern Technical Solutions for Cleaning, Disinfection and Sterilization

The article describes a new technical solution for ensuring efficient and inexpensive cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of production facilities and their equipment, based on the principle of generating the use of ozone gas. It describes the technical solution and construction of sterilization and cleaning equipment with ozone gas and the sterilization of small objects, especially textiles contaminated with various viruses, including the Covid-19 virus. The device is designed as energy-saving, structurally simple, with high sterilization and cleaning efficiency. The sterilization device is small in size, mobile and its design enables transportation in the trunk of an ordinary passenger car. The weight of the device is 14 kg. The device's ozone source is an ozone air purifier, mass-produced according to valid EU standards. The power source of the ozone purifier is an electrical source with a voltage of only 230 V and a frequency of 50 Hz. Alternatively, it is possible to use power from a safe mobile source or inverter. The operation of sterilization and cleaning device in a closed, non-ventilated area, does not endanger people's health or damage plants. The description of the construction of a technical sterilization device is focused on a specific type of device, but the stated theoretical results can be equally well used in the electrotechnical, food, medical or pharmaceutical industries and in general wherever there is a need to effectively and efficiently clean and sterilize production objects, their equipment, used materials and all other production aids means and tools.

Probing the affinity of noble metal nanoparticles to the segments of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Currently, scientists have devoted great efforts to finding effective treatments to combat COVID-19 infections. Although noble metal nanoparticles are able to realize protein modifications, their interactions with the protein are still unclear from the atomic perspective. To supply a general understanding, in this work, we have carried out theoretical calculations to investigate the interaction between protein segments (RBD1, RBD2, RBD3) of SARS-Cov-2 spike protein and a series of noble metal (Au, Ag, Cu, Pd, Pt) surfaces regarding the binding strength, protein orientations, and electronic modulations. In particular, the Au surface has shown the strongest binding preferences for the protein segments, which induces electron transfer between the Au and receptor-binding domain (RBD) segments. This further leads to the polarization of segments for virus denaturation. This work has offered a direct visualization of protein interactions with noble metal surfaces from the atomic level, which will benefit anti-virus material developments in the future.

Advancements and Future Perspectives of 1, 2, 3 Triazole Scaffold as Promising Antiviral Agent in Drug Discovery

Severe viral infections like Covid-19 are emerging now a day and are the common causes of human illness and death. Presently, we have a limited availability of antiviral chemotherapeutic agents to prevent and treat these infections, so it is the need of an hour to develop potential antiviral drugs against various harmful and fatal viral infections. A large quantity of research has been performed on 1, 2, 3 triazole and their derivatives, which has proved the promising antiviral activity of this heterocyclic nucleus. Among nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds, 1, 2, 3-triazoles are privileged structure motifs and received great attention in academics and industry. Even though absent in nature, 1, 2, 3-triazoles have found broad applications in drug discovery, organic synthesis, polymer chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, bioconjugation, chemical biology, fluorescent imaging, and materials science. 1, 2, 3 triazole nucleus is one of the most important and well-known heterocycle which is a common and integral skeleton of a variety of medicinal compounds like antidepressant, antihistaminic, antioxidant, antitubercular, anti-Parkinson, antineoplastic, antihypertensive, antimalarial, local anaesthetic, antianxiety, antiobesity and immunomodulatory agents, etc. 1, 2, 3 triazole emerged as a pharmacologically significant scaffolds due to its broad and potent activity against severe infections. This review primarily lays emphasis on the recent advancements in the synthesis and biological evaluation of 1, 2, 3 triazole derivatives as antiviral agents which may facilitate the development of more potent and effective antiviral agents. Copyright © 2022 are reserved by International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research. This Journal licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The utilization of palm kernel shells and waste plastics in asphaltic mix for sustainable pavement construction. (Special Issue: Technology and innovation for a post COVID recovery and growth: the contribution of industry and academia.)

Natural aggregates are being depleted due to the high demand for road and building construction and need to be replaced with alternative materials. This study investigated the potential of using Palm kernel shells (PaKS) as a partial replacement for natural aggregates (NA) and waste plastics (WP) as a binder. The physical and volumetric properties of the different asphaltic mixes (AM) were assessed using the Marshall Method. The bitumen content of the mix design samples was varied from 4.0% to 7.5% of the total weight of aggregates utilized. According to the Marshall parameters, at 5.5% bitumen content, the maximum Marshall Stability value of the different mix designs increased from 9.8 kN to 12.1 kN and the flow value increased from 3.0 mm to 3.7 mm. The experimental results based on the optimum bitumen content determined by the Marshall method demonstrate that PaKS and WP can be utilized to modify AM. However, additional tests will be needed to evaluate the use of this composition in road construction.

CMSE 2022 Preface

The proceedings provide a selection of thirty-eight peer-reviewed papers presented at the 11th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2022), held as a virtual conference on September 16-19, 2022.By the tradition annually followed in the full decade of its history, CMSE 2022 was dedicated to various aspects of Materials Science and Engineering. Given the aggravated Covid situation, the conference format was fully converted to the online mode to ensure the safety of participants, abandoning the previously scheduled on-site preparation plans in Shenzhen, China.CMSE 2022 was conducted via Microsoft Teams. The full three days of the conference comprised namely keynote speeches, oral presentations, and poster presentations, each part followed by a Q&A discussion. Firstly, the conference audience containing over a hundred participants from 23 countries enjoyed the keynote speeches of three distinguished professors: Prof. Qixin Guo from Saga University, Japan, Prof. Yarub Al-Douri from the American University of Iraq, Iraq, and Prof. Rodrigo Martins from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, who shared their deep insights on rare earth doped semiconductors, quinternary alloys’ multi-application, and green and low-cost printed electronics, respectively. Next, over eighty oral and poster presentations were delivered successfully with informative results from related materials science and engineering fields. More detail can be found in the online version of the conference program. The online format of the conference somewhat limited the informal discussion opportunities for its participants. However, despite Covid-induced restrictions, this conference fulfilled its ultimate goal of bringing together experts from universities, academic institutions, industrial companies, and so on, updating the state-of-the-art developments and challenges.The selected thirty-eight contributions cover the latest advances in innovative materials, materials technology and materials properties, microstructure, testing & characterization, processing, etc. They focus on theoretical and analytical methods, numerical simulations, and experimental techniques with regard to industrial applications. All papers passed a rigorous reviewing process by the International Committee experts, whose reviews and comments were crucial for enhancing the scientific merit and quality of the proceedings.List of Committee Members is available in this Pdf.

Impact of Transitions between Online and Offline Learning During COVID-19 on Computational Curricular Reform: Student Perspective

Computational methods have gained importance and popularity in both academia and industry for materials research and development in recent years. Since 2014, our team at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has consistently worked on reforming our Materials Science and Engineering curriculum by incorporating computational modules into all mandatory undergraduate courses. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education as on-campus resources and activities became highly restricted. Here we seek to investigate the impact of the university moving online in Spring 2020 and resuming in-person instructions in Fall 2021 on the effectiveness of our computational curricular reform from the students' perspective. We track and compare feedback from students in a representative course MSE 182 for their computational learning experience before, during and after the pandemic lockdown from 2019 to 2021. Besides, we survey all undergraduate students, for their online learning experiences during the pandemic. We find that online learning enhances the students' belief in the importance and benefits of computation in materials science and engineering, while making them less comfortable and confident to acquire skills that are relatively difficult. In addition, early computational learners are likely to experience more difficulties with online learning compared to students at late stages of their undergraduate education, regardless of the computational workload. Multiple reasons are found to limit the students' online computational learning, such as insufficient support from instructors and TAs, limited chances of peer communication and harder access to computational resources. Therefore, it is advised to guarantee more resources to students with novice computational skills regarding such limiting reasons in the future when online learning is applied. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022

Development of Bioderived Alternatives to N95 Face Masks in a Remote Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience

The high demand for N95 and surgical masks made of nonbiodegradable petroleum-based materials due to SARS-CoV-2 challenges the recycling industry and is proving to be unsustainable. Although woven fabric masks present a longer lifetime, they are less effective in protecting against viral particulates. Here, through an at-home course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), we demonstrate that alginate and soy-based materials are attractive alternatives for mask fabrication: stacking calcium ion-cross-linked alginate films with soy protein isolate sheets enables electrostatic and size-exclusion filtration. State-of-the-art aerosol testing confirmed this conclusion. Furthermore, because our synthetic and at-home analytical approach relies on cheap, abundant, and food-grade materials, and requires no equipment beyond kitchenware, it has the potential to be broadly adopted for practical and educational purposes. © 2022 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

MS & T22 WELCOMES NEW EXHIBITS AND PROGRAMMING

Bringing together the resources and members of complementary materials science and engineering groups has long been a defining feature of the Materials Science & Technology (MS&T) conference series. In 2022, MS&T builds on that tradition by welcoming new partners who will bring fresh exhibits symposia, and audiences to the event. As in previous years, MS&T22 will bring together three leading materials societies--TMS, the American Ceramic Society, and the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. To supplement this long-standing partnership, MS&T will welcome Event Partners to expand the exhibition and the Society for Biomaterials to offer additional programming.

A Web-Based Metallographic Atlas for Teaching Materials Science

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many higher education institutions to offer their courses online, which is quite challenging when implementing laboratory sessions. Here we describe a web-based teaching resource consisting of a metallographic atlas with more than 200 micrographs corresponding to pure metals, binary alloys, steels, cast irons, and light alloys. The atlas is designed for majors and graduate level students in materials science disciplines, and it focuses on the interpretation of optical micrographs. The web page metrics, the impact on academic scores, and the results of an anonymous and voluntary survey indicate a very positive response to this online teaching resource material.

THE NAI PROFILE: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. CATO T. LAURENCIN

After receiving his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, magna cum laude, and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Laurencin held positions in research and teaching at Harvard Medical School and MIT before moving into a career where he has simultaneously worked as a surgeon, research scientist, engineering professor, and higher education leader at Drexel University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Connecticut (UConn). The White House has honored him on three occasions: the Presidential Faculty Fellow Award from President Bill Clinton;the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering Mentoring from President Barack Obama;and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama. A prime example of his ingenuity is his basic and applied research behind the first successful engineered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-the Laurencin-Cooper (L-C) Ligament, which offers a revolutionary alternative to traditional treatments. Laurencin's L-C Ligament is a bioresorbable matrix that has been proven to completely regenerate ligament tissue inside the knee following ACL reconstruction surgery.

Recent advances in nanozymes for combating bacterial infection

Bacterial infection is a major threat to public health around the world. Currently, antibiotics remain the most extensive mode of medical treatment for bacterial infection. However, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics have exacerbated the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the improper and excessive use of biocides and disinfectants has a catastrophic impact on antibiotic management plans worldwide. Therefore, there is an urgent need for alternative antibacterial treatments to alleviate this crisis. In recent years, nanozymes have become promising new antibacterial agents because of their broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, less drug resistance, and high stability. This review focuses on the classification of nanozymes and research progress of nanozymes as antibacterial agents, as well as perspectives for future research in this field.

Valorization of Aloe barbadensis Miller. (Aloe vera) Processing Waste

Aloe vera plant is known worldwide for its medicinal properties and application in gel-based products such as shampoo, soap, and sunscreen. However, the demand for these gel-based products has led to a surplus production of Aloe vera processing waste. An Aloe vera gel processing facility could generate up to 4000 kg of Aloe vera waste per month. Currently the Aloe vera waste is being disposed to the landfill or used as fertilizer. A sustainable management system for the Aloe vera processing waste should be considered, due to the negative societal and environmental impacts of the currents waste disposal methods. Therefore, this review focuses on various approaches that can be used to valorize Aloe vera waste into value-added products, such as animal and aquaculture feeds, biosorbents, biofuel and natural polymers. Researchers have reported Aloe vera waste for environmental applications biosorbents used for wastewater treatment of various pollutants. Several studies have also reported on the valorization of Aloe vera waste for production of biofuels such as bioethanol, mixed alcohol fuels, biogas and syngas. Aloe vera waste could also be valorized through isolation and synthesis of natural polymers for application in wound dressing, tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. Aloe vera waste valorization was also reviewed through extraction of value-added bioactive compounds such as aloe-emodin, aloin and aloeresin. These value-added bioactive compounds have various applications in the cosmetics (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, tyrosinase inhibitors) and pharmaceutical (anticancer agent and COVID 19 inhibitors) industry.