In the course of screening for reactive oxygen species scavengers from natural products, an antioxidant was isolated from the mycelial culture broth of Phellinus linteus and identified as hispidin. The hispidin content was reached its maximum level at 12 days after onset of inoculation. About 2.5 mg/mL of hispidin was produced by P. linteus in a yeast-malt medium (pH 5.8, 25 degrees C). Hispidin inhibited 22.6 and 56.8% of the super oxide anion radical, 79.4 and 95.3% of the hydroxyl radical, and 28.1 and 85.5% of the DPPH radical at 0.1 and 1.0 mM, respectively. The positive control alpha-tocopherol scavenged 25.6 and 60.3%, 74.6 and 96.3%, and 32.7 and 77.5% of each radical, respectively, at the same concentrations. However, hispidin showed no significant activity on the hydrogen peroxide radical.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of workplaces in the LEED-certified buildings in the United States. LEED ® , standing for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a U.S. national sustainable building benchmark as well as green building rating system adopted nationally and internationally. The study compared seven IEQ criteria in relation to occupant's satisfaction and performance between LEED-certified buildings and non-LEED-certified buildings. The seven IEQ criteria included qualities of office layout, office furnishings, thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ), lighting, acoustics, and cleanliness and maintenance. The study found that LEEDcertified buildings showed higher occupant satisfaction with office furnishings quality, IAQ, and cleanliness and maintenance quality than non-LEED-certified buildings. However, non-LEED-certified buildings presented higher occupant satisfaction with office layout quality, lighting quality, and acoustic quality than LEED-certified buildings. LEED-certified buildings had higher occupant performance in office furnishings quality, thermal comfort quality, IAQ, and cleanliness and maintenance quality than non-LEED-certified buildings. But non-LEED-certified buildings showed higher occupant performance in office layout quality, lighting quality, and acoustic quality. The implementations of the study include emphasis on various issues of IEQ in workplace design when complying with LEED and refinement of current LEED IEQ criteria.

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We report the characterization of white light emitting devices fabricated using conjugated polymer blends. Blue emissive poly[9,9-bis(4Ј-n-octyloxyphenyl)fluorene-2, 7-diyl-co-10-(2Ј-ethylhexyl)phenothiazine-3,7-diyl] [poly(BOPF-co-PTZ)] and red emissive poly(2-(2Ј-ethylhexyloxy)-5-methoxy-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) were used in the blends. The inefficient energy transfer between these blue and red light emitting polymers (previously deduced from the photoluminscence (PL) spectra of the blend films) enables the production of white light emission through control of the blend ratio. The PL and electroluminescence (EL) emission spectra of the blend systems were found to vary with the blend ratio. The EL devices were fabricated in the indium tin oxide [poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)] (ITO/PEDOT-PSS)blend/LiF/Al configuration, and white light emission was obtained for one of the tested blend ratios.

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