Dealing with Alcohol-Related Posts on Social Media: Using a Mixed-Method Approach to Understand Young Peoples' Problem Awareness and Evaluations of Intervention Ideas.

Young individuals frequently share and encounter alcohol-related content (i.e., alcohol posts) on social networking sites. The prevalence of these posts is problematic because both the sharing of and exposure to these posts can increase young individuals' alcohol (mis)use. Consequently, it is essential to develop effective intervention strategies that hinder young individuals from sharing these posts. This study aimed to develop such intervention strategies by following four steps: (1) assessing young individuals' problem awareness of alcohol posts, (2) unraveling individuals' own intervention ideas to tackle the problem of alcohol posts, (3) examining their evaluations of theory/empirical-based intervention ideas, and (4) exploring individual differences in both problem awareness and intervention evaluations. To reach these aims, a mixed-method study (i.e., focus-group interviews and surveys) among Dutch high-school and college students (Ntotal = 292, Agerange = 16-28 years) was conducted. According to the results, most youth did not consider alcohol posts to be a problem and were, therefore, in favor of using automated warning messages to raise awareness. However, these messages might not work for every individual, as group differences in problem awareness and intervention evaluations exist. Overall, this study puts forward potential intervention ideas to reduce alcohol posts in digital spheres and can therefore serve as a steppingstone to test the actual effects of the ideas.

Comparative study on water-soluble inorganic ions in PM2.5 from two distinct climate regions and air quality.

Recently, air quality has significantly improved in developed country, but that issue is of concern in emerging megacity in developing country. In this study, aerosols and their precursor gas were collected by NILU filter pack at two distinct urban sites during the winter and summer in Osaka, Japan and dry and rainy seasons in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. The aims are to investigate the contribution of water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs) to PM2.5, thermodynamic characterization and possible formation pathway of secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA). The PM2.5 concentration in Osaka (15.8 µg/m3) is lower than that in HCMC (23.0 µg/m3), but the concentration of WSIIs in Osaka (9.0 µg/m3) is two times higher than that in HCMC (4.1 µg/m3). Moreover, SIA including NH4+, NO3- and SO42- are major components in WSIIs accounting for 90% and 76% (in molar) in Osaka and HCMC, respectively. Thermodynamic models were used to understand the thermodynamic characterization of urban aerosols. Overall, statistical analysis results indicate that very good agreement (R2 > 0.8) was found for all species, except for nitrate aerosol in HCMC. We found that when the crustal species present at high amount, those compositions should be included in model calculation (i.e. in the HCMC situation). Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of NH4+- NO3-- SO42- system. A possible pathway to produce fine nitrate aerosol in Osaka is via the homogeneous reaction between NH3 and HNO3, while non-volatile nitrate aerosols can be formed by the heterogeneous reactions in HCMC.

Characteristics of ammonia gas and fine particulate ammonium from two distinct urban areas: Osaka, Japan, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Continuous and simultaneous measurements of ammonia gas (NH3) and fine particulate ammonium (PM2.5NH4+) were performed in two distinct urban areas: Osaka, Japan, and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Measurements were performed using a new online instrument. Two measurement periods were conducted during February 11-March 12, 2015 (cold period), and July 1-September 14, 2015 (warm period), at the urban site in Osaka, while 17 days of measurements, from May 21 to June 8, 2015, were conducted at the urban site in HCMC. The average NH3 concentration at the HCMC site was much higher than that at the Osaka site. The differences in the NH3 levels between the two cities are a result of their different emission sources. Traffic emission is a significant contributor to the NH3 levels within the urban area in Osaka. Conversely, the contribution of traffic emission to the NH3 levels in the HCMC urban area is negligible. With a population of around 8.5 million people living in the urban area of HCMC, the high NH3 level is due to human sources and poor waste management systems, especially because of the high temperature (30 °C) and dense population of the city (density up to 42,000 inhabitants per km2). In contrast to the NH3 levels, the highest PM2.5NH4+ level occurred during the cold period at the Osaka site, and the average level at this site was higher than that at the HCMC site. The availability of atmospheric acids, low temperature, and high humidity facilitates the formation of ammonium. Our results indicate that NH3 plays a key role in secondary inorganic aerosol formation; therefore, it contributes to a significant amount of PM2.5 at the Osaka site. In contrast, the high levels of PM2.5 observed at the HCMC site are likely from road traffic emission, mainly motorcycles, rather than secondary inorganic aerosol formation.

Ultrasound assisted production of fatty acid methyl esters from transesterification of triglycerides with methanol in the presence of KOH catalyst: optimization, mechanism and kinetics.

Ultrasound assisted transesterification of triglycerides (TG) with methanol in the presence of KOH catalyst was investigated, where the changes in the reactants and products (diglycerides (DG), monoglycerides (MG), fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and glycerin (GL)) concentrations were discussed to understand the reaction mechanism and kinetics under ultrasound irradiation. The optimum reaction condition for the FAME production was the concentration of KOH 1.0 wt.%, molar ratio of TG to methanol of 1:6, and irradiation time of 25 min. The rate constants during the TG transesterification with methanol into GL and FAME were estimated by a curve fitting method with simulated curves to the obtained experimental results. The rate constants of [Formula: see text] were estimated to be 0.21, 0.008, 0.23, 0.005, 0.14 and 0.001 L mol(-1)min(-1), respectively. The rate determining step for the TG transesterification with methanol into GL and FAME was the reaction of MG with methanol into GL and FAME.

A two-step continuous ultrasound assisted production of biodiesel fuel from waste cooking oils: a practical and economical approach to produce high quality biodiesel fuel.

A transesterification reaction of waste cooking oils (WCO) with methanol in the presence of a potassium hydroxide catalyst was performed in a continuous ultrasonic reactor of low-frequency 20 kHz with input capacity of 1 kW, in a two-step process. For the first step, the transesterification was carried out with the molar ratio of methanol to WCO of 2.5:1, and the amount of catalyst 0.7 wt.%. The yield of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) was about 81%. A yield of FAME of around 99% was attained in the second step with the molar ratio of methanol to initial WCO of 1.5:1, and the amount of catalyst 0.3 wt.%. The FAME yield was extremely high even at the short residence time of the reactants in the ultrasonic reactor (less than 1 min for the two steps) at ambient temperature, and the total amount of time required to produce biodiesel was 15h. The quality of the final biodiesel product meets the standards JIS K2390 and EN 14214 for biodiesel fuel.

Ultrasound-assisted production of biodiesel fuel from vegetable oils in a small scale circulation process.

Biodiesel production from canola oil with methanol was performed in the presence of a base-catalyst by a circulation process at room temperature. In this process, the transesterification was accelerated by ultrasonic irradiation of low frequency (20 kHz) with an input capacity of 1 kW. The influences of various parameters on the transesterification reaction, including the amount of catalyst, the molar ratio of methanol to oil and the reaction time, were investigated. The objective of this work was to produce biodiesel satisfying the biodiesel-fuel standards of low energy consumption and material savings. The optimal conditions were: methanol/oil molar ratio of 5:1 and 0.7 wt.% catalyst in oil. Under these conditions, the conversion of triglycerides to fatty acid methyl esters was greater than 99% within the reaction time of 50 min. Crude biodiesel was purified by washing with tap water and drying at 70 degrees C under reduced pressure.