ASU Scholarship Showcase

These videos depict two miscible liquids with different densities and viscosities coming into contact. This study explores how a swellable test pad can be deployed for measuring urea in saliva by partially prefilling the pad with a miscible solution of greater viscosity and density. The resultant Korteweg stresses and viscous fingering patterns are analyzed using solutions with added food color through video analysis and image processing. Image analysis is simplified using the saturation channel after converting RGB image sequences to HSB. These videos are conjunction to an article submission to MDPI Bioengineering journal as supplementary files to enhance the breadth and depth of the content therein.

Urea is an added value chemical with wide applications in the industry and agriculture. The release of urea waste to the environment affects ecosystem health despite its low toxicity. Online monitoring of urea for industrial applications and environmental health is an unaddressed challenge. Electroanalytical techniques can be a smart integrated solution for online monitoring if sensors can overcome the major barrier associated with long-term stability. Mixed metal oxides have shown excellent stability in environmental conditions with long lasting operational lives. However, these materials have been barely explored for sensing applications. This work presents a proof of concept that demonstrates the applicability of an indirect electroanalytical quantification method of urea. The use of Ti/RuO2-TiO2-SnO2 dimensional stable anode (DSA®) can provide accurate and sensitive quantification of urea in aqueous samples exploiting the excellent catalytic properties of DSA® on the electrogeneration of active chlorine species. The cathodic reduction of accumulated HClO/ClO− from anodic electrogeneration presented a direct relationship with urea concentration. This novel method can allow urea quantification with a competitive LOD of 1.83 × 10−6 mol L−1 within a linear range of 6.66 × 10−6 to 3.33 × 10−4 mol L−1 of urea concentration.

Jane Austen’s beloved naval brother, Charles Austen (1779–1852), had a significant impact on her literary career.We find probable traces of him in the male characters appearing in Mansfield Park (1814) and Persuasion (1818), and he is said to have offered naval vocabulary to help his sister revise the second edition of Mansfield Park (1816). In addition to his impact during Jane’s lifetime (1775–1817), Charles played a role in sustaining her posthumous celebrity, modest as it was at first. Two previously unpublished brief letters by him—and references to him in other correspondence—offer an opportunity to speculate about his role in supporting his late sister’s literary reputation.