University Chemical Laboratory Research Articles

Current Situation and Challenges of Safety Management of Chemical Laboratories in Universities: Problems and Countermeasures

University chemistry laboratory is an important base for teaching experiment and scientific research, and its experimental activities and scientific research results play an irreplaceable role in cultivating students' practical ability and promoting the development of the subject. However, with the increase of the frequency of laboratory use and the improvement of experimental complexity, the safety management of chemical laboratories in colleges and universities has become increasingly prominent. Laboratory accidents can not only cause serious harm to people and the environment, but can also have a negative impact on a school's reputation and the quality of education. Through the field investigation and data analysis of chemical laboratories in many colleges and universities, it is found that although many colleges and universities have established a set of safety management system, there are still many deficiencies in practical operation, such as weak safety awareness, imperfect safety facilities, insufficient safety training and lack of emergency plans. These problems not only threaten the safe operation of the laboratory, but also restrict the smooth development of scientific research and teaching activities. In view of the challenges facing the safety management of chemical laboratories in colleges and universities, safety education and training should be strengthened to improve the awareness and attention of teachers and students to laboratory safety. Secondly, it is necessary to improve the safety facilities and ensure that the hardware equipment of the laboratory can meet the safety requirements. In addition, a sound safety management system and emergency plans should be established to respond quickly and effectively in emergency situations.

Exploration and Practice of University Chemistry Laboratory Course Reform in the Context of Emerging Medical Education

Exploration and Practice of University Chemistry Laboratory Course Reform in the Context of Emerging Medical Education

Inherent Hazards Assessment and Classification Method for University Chemical Laboratories in China

In recent years, chemical laboratory accidents have frequently occurred in Chinese universities. A three-year safety inspection by the Ministry of Education of China discovered many issues in university chemical laboratories, including inadequate hazards identification, limited risk awareness, and insufficient safety management. In view of these problems, this study established the inherent hazards assessment and classification (IHAC) method for university chemical laboratories. We quantitatively evaluated the materials, equipment, and processes of chemical laboratories for inherent hazards. To differentiate levels of supervision over inherent hazards, we separated chemical laboratories into four tiers: A, B, C, and D. We used IHAC in a Chinese university’s chemical laboratory to show that it can effectively identify and evaluate laboratory dangers. Simultaneously, splitting laboratories into multiple levels can result in more targeted laboratory safety management and accident prevention.

Exploration of Safety Management and Practice in University Chemistry Laboratory Teaching

Exploration of Safety Management and Practice in University Chemistry Laboratory Teaching

Polystyrene Laboratory Analysis: A Hands-On Experience for High School Students to Determine the Molecular Weight of Polystyrene Through Spin Casting

Hands-on learning is a staple in high school science education, as it provides students with a fast-learning curve and a great degree of field competency. However, due to the safety risks associated with high school students in university chemistry laboratory settings, high school students rarely engage in authentic hands-on chemical learning. To bridge the gap between the benefits and drawbacks, this study investigates a method to educate high school students (with no previous experience) about standard chemical laboratory practices. 98 high school students experimented throughout 2 days to determine the molecular weights and characteristics of various polystyrene samples, essential knowledge for polymer recycling. Students were split into 5 groups so that laboratory usage be organized and staggered. After laboratory safety training was administered, students created different types and concentrations of toluene-based samples and spin-casted these samples onto silicon wafers, determining thickness through ellipsometry. With the data, each group calculated molecular weight, propagated error, and wrote laboratory reports. In order to evaluate the extent of learning through this process, students were given pretraining and postexperimentation assessments with the same questions pertaining to laboratory safety, equipment usage, and materials science related topics. On average, students displayed scores 63% higher on the postexperiment assessment compared to those of the pretraining assessment. The results suggest the experience not only taught students about the various materials science concepts but also improved their laboratory logic. Therefore, our method is recommended to be implemented at the university level for motivated high school and first-year undergraduate students.

PELATIHAN PEMBUATAN HAND SANITIZER KEPADA MASYARAKAT WILAYAH TANJUNG GEDONG, JAKARTA BARAT

Salah satu upaya dalam menjaga kebersihan diri adalah dengan menggunakan cairan pembersih tangan (hand sanitizer). Sementara itu, kondisi masyarakat yang majemuk di lokasi mitra menyebabkan tidak semua penduduk wilayah mitra memiliki akses yang sama untuk mencari informasi tentang pembuatan hand sanitizer yang sesuai dengan standar WHO. Metode yang digunakan pada Program Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat ini adalah metode praktek langsung dengan melakukan pelatihan pembuatan hand sanitizer kepada masyarakat mitra. Bahan yang digunakan untuk membuat hand sanitizer terdiri dari alkohol 70%, gliserin dan H2O2 3%. Kegiatan Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat ini dibagi menjadi dua tahap yakni tahap pertama adalah pemberian bantuan hand sanitizer yang telah diproduksi di laboratorium kimia Universitas Trisakti kepada masyarakat wilayah Tanjung Gedong, Tomang, Jakarta Barat dan tahap kedua yakni pelatihan pembuatan hand sanitizer melalui video yang disampaikan melalui aplikasi zoom meeting. Hasil dari kegiatan Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat ini meningkatkan pengetahuan masyarakat tentang cara pembuatan hand sanitizer yang sesuai standar WHO dan memberikan bantuan berupa produk hand sanitizer yang telah diproduksi di laboratorium kimia Jurusan Teknik Pertambangan, FTKE, Universitas Trisakti.

Exploration on the Case Library Construction of University Chemistry Laboratory Course Ideology and Politics

Exploration on the Case Library Construction of University Chemistry Laboratory Course Ideology and Politics

Risk Assessment In a Public University Chemistry Laboratories

Laboratories are working areas that enter the dangerous workplace class and contain many risks. These risks can be listed as chemical, biological, physical and ergonomic. Chemistry laboratories, especially in the universities, are the areas where many students and academicians carry out their experimental studies. Although academics are more conscious and cautious about the possible risks, it is not possible to make the same assumption for students. Therefore, especially the risk assessment of university laboratories is very important. In this study, risk analysis was done in Uşak University chemistry laboratories. The L-type matrix (decision-making matrix) has been used because it can be assessed quickly by a single researcher based on different severity levels. As a result of the examinations and observations made, the possible and potential risks that may arise from these dangers were tried to be determined independently in four chemistry laboratories. In the risk analysis prepared, 48 risks were determined for four laboratories and the risks and their severities were determined and the risks were graded. When the risks are grouped according to their grades, 12 high-grade risks, 30 medium-grade risks and 6 low-grade risks were identified, and these risks and preventive measures were presented in the study.

WITHDRAWN: Environmental pollution and health risk assessment of chemical laboratories in colleges and universities.

Ahead of Print article withdrawn by publisher.

A semi-quantitative methodology for risk assessment of university chemical laboratory

University chemical laboratory is a high-risk place for teaching and scientific research due to the presence of various physical and chemical hazards. In recent years, university chemical laboratory accidents occur frequently. This urges the need to enhance university chemical lab safety. A semi-quantitative methodology comprising Matter-Element Extension Theory (MEET) implemented with Combination Ordered Weighted Averaging (C-OWA) operator is proposed to assess the risk of a university chemical laboratory. First, an index-based risk assessment system of university chemical laboratory is built by identifying various risk factors from a system perspective. Then, C-OWA operator is used to calculate the weight of assessment indices, whereas MEET is employed to determine the correlation degree of assessment indices. Finally, the comprehensive risk of university chemical laboratories is assessed, and some safety measures are proposed to reduce the risk of university chemical laboratories. The applicability of the proposed methodology is tested using a practical case. It is observed that the methodology can be a useful tool for risk assessment and management of university chemical laboratories.

Mobile Sentry Robot for Laboratory Safety Inspection Based on Machine Vision and Infrared Thermal Imaging Detection

As is known to all, university chemistry laboratories have always been considered as dangerous areas on campus, especially pharmaceutical chemistry laboratories, which are often the focus of pharmaceutical laboratory management. The innovation in safety management mode can effectively reduce or even eliminate security risks and reduce the risk of safety accidents. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, robots have been introduced into all walks of life, replacing humans to complete part of the safety inspection. One of the core tasks of laboratory safety inspection is to find the source of fire and take measures to extinguish the fire in time. The intention of this paper is to design a sentry robot, which could take appropriate emergency measures to detect dangerous situations, including sounding alarms and carrying out firefighting, in order to minimize accidents and economic losses, based on machine vision for periodic inspection of laboratories with a temperature thermal imager to scan surroundings at the same time. The preliminary research results show that based on the machine vision, the robot identified the fire source and adjusted the spray device to carry out the fire-extinguishing experiment successfully. The development and utilization of laboratory patrol robots can share the work of laboratory patrol to a certain extent, guarantee the safety of experimental teaching in colleges and universities, and have room for sustainable research.

Productive Disciplinary Engagement in a Remote Laboratory Activity With an Eighth-Grade Science Class

Remote laboratories offer students an opportunity to use analytical laboratory instruments through the Internet, in real time, from their classroom. Although remote laboratory activities offer great potential for engaging students’ interest and student learning, little work has been done on using them with middle school students. This study focused on middle school students’ engagement during a remote laboratory activity. With the help of facilitators, 18 eighth-grade students worked in six groups of three to remotely operate a Shimadzu TOC/TN Analyzer in a university chemistry laboratory, in real time, to measure the total nitrogen content in their river water samples. We video- and audio-recorded the students’ discourse with each other and with facilitators during the activity. Following transcription, discourse was coded for types of engagement as defined by the Productive Disciplinary Engagement framework, which posits three types of engagement: general engagement—students make active contributions; disciplinary engagement—students’ contributions are connected to the discipline of science; and productive disciplinary engagement—students make intellectual progress. All six groups demonstrated general engagement and disciplinary engagement. Students talked about both the technology, such as the video camera that allowed them to view inside the university laboratory, as well as the science, such as how the machine was actually doing the measuring. Two groups showed evidence of moving towards productive disciplinary engagement when they discussed the meaning of their results. Our results suggest that remote laboratory activities can engage middle school students and can be a site for their learning.

An OpenFOAM simulation of the natural ventilation system in a university chemical laboratory

The indoor airflow with a natural ventilation system was numerically calculated using the laminar and turbulent approach. In the chemical laboratory of the Technical University of Ambato, the computational code OpenFoam demonstrated an ability to numerically predict flow patterns. The design contemplated the natural ventilation system considering the laboratories’ working conditions not only in summer, but also in a winter week. These two operating conditions are calculated on a fully open and closed environment. For a room with a capacity of 20 people, the climate data average values were recorded at 14.0 ° C, 81.7%, 1.7 m /s for temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed, respectively. Furthermore, the demonstration has shown that the homogeneous occupancy air speed average is was 0.7 m / s with a facade air intake of 1.0 m / s 0.6 m / s in the room valid for the exchange of air and evacuation of pollutants. The maximum pressures were found in the lower part of the laboratory. This prevents the modification of the thermo-hygrometric conditions.

Air and breath analysis for the assessment of exposure to solvent emissions in university chemistry laboratories

In this study, ambient and biological monitoring, through the use of breath analysis, in different university laboratory environments have been performed and compared to assess whether breath analysis is an efficient alternative for exposure monitoring in non-acute conditions. 40 atmospheric samples from four laboratories were evaluated: three of the labs used solvents on a daily basis and the manipulation of solvents was forbidden in the other laboratory. 76 breath samples were analyzed from non-exposed people (n = 21) and researchers doing their regular daily routine in each of the tested laboratories (n = 55). It was found that ambient levels in the most contaminated laboratory reached values below the recommended occupational exposure limits for acute exposition. However, the levels found for some of the solvents tested were above the proposed inhalation minimum risk levels (MRL) and reference concentrations (RfC) associated with chronic health effects. The results obtained for exhaled breath tend to agree with the air levels detected in the most contaminated environments, but it was found that exhaled breath levels for people working in environments with low contamination levels were not always correlated with air levels. These results indicate that biological monitoring using breath analysis mirror more accurately the dose inhaled in non-acute conditions and may help to assess provable chronic health effects.

Reform and Practice of Teaching Modes in University Chemistry Laboratories Based on Course Cubic

Reform and Practice of Teaching Modes in University Chemistry Laboratories Based on Course Cubic

Research on the Management of Precursor Chemicals in University Chemistry Laboratory

Research on the Management of Precursor Chemicals in University Chemistry Laboratory

Risk assessment and quality improvement of liquid waste management in Taiwan University chemical laboratories

The policy of establishing new universities across Taiwan has led to an increase in the number of universities, and many schools have constructed new laboratories to meet students’ academic needs. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of laboratory accidents from the liquid waste in universities. Therefore, how to build a safety system for laboratory liquid waste disposal has become an important issue in the environmental protection, safety, and hygiene of all universities. This study identifies the risk factors of liquid waste disposal and presents an agenda for practices to laboratory managers. An expert questionnaire is adopted to probe into the risk priority procedures of liquid waste disposal; then, the fuzzy theory-based FMEA method and the traditional FMEA method are employed to analyze and improve the procedures for liquid waste disposal. According to the research results, the fuzzy FMEA method is the most effective, and the top 10 potential disabling factors are prioritized for improvement according to the risk priority number (RNP), including “Unclear classification”, “Gathering liquid waste without a funnel or a drain pan”, “Lack of a clearance and transport contract”, “Liquid waste spill during delivery”, “Spill over”, “Decentralized storage”, “Calculating weight in the wrong way”, “Compatibility between the container material and the liquid waste”, “Lack of dumping and disposal tools”, and “Lack of a clear labels for liquid waste containers”. After tracking improvements, the overall improvement rate rose to 60.2%.

Assessment of occupational hazards and associated risks in fuzzy environment: A case study of a university chemical laboratory

ABSTRACTUniversity laboratories involve various occupational hazards during the research and course activities, which might affect health and safety of both researchers and students, including chemical, physical, electrical, mechanical, as well as ergonomic and psychosocial risk factors. There are many aspects open to improvements in Occupational Health and Safety management of laboratories, and it is required to deal with risks, reduce them in an acceptable level, and implement control measures. In this study, a risk assessment approach is proposed for the university laboratory operations. The proposed approach incorporates 5S methodology, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), interval type-two fuzzy sets (IT2FSs), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR). AHP is injected into IT2FSs in the phase of evaluation and weighting of severity (S), occurrence (O), and detectability (D) parameters of FMEA. By applying IT2FVIKOR, it is aimed at prioritizing the emerged hazards in the chemical laboratory of the observed university. The proposed approach reveals the important hazards and suggests control measures for managing them. The study methodologically contributes to risk assessment in the knowledge, while a case study in a chemical laboratory of a newly established university offers an insight into education industry in safety improvement.

Development of a versatile laboratory experiment to teach the metabolic transformation of hydrolysis

In this paper we describe an easy, reliable, versatile and inexpensive laboratory experiment to teach the metabolic transformation of hydrolysis to Pharmacy students. The experiment does not require the sacrifice of any experimental animal, or any work with organs or tissues, and so can be implemented in a typical university chemistry laboratory. We used acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), hexyl salicylate (HS) and two enzymes, a lipase and an esterase. Since both ASS and HS liberate salicylic acid (SA) upon hydrolysis, students can evaluate the different enzymatic transformations by monitoring the amount of SA liberated. The learning outcomes are an enhanced student understanding of: (1) the process of hydrolysis; (2) the application of enzymatic transformations of molecules from food to xenobiotics; (3) the differences between the general specificity of substrate of both enzymes; (4) the concepts of the lipophilic pocket; (5) the catalytic triad and its regioselectivity in relation to the ester bond. A questionnaire was administered to participating students at three points in time: at the beginning of the module, after enzymatic hydrolysis was taught in class, and after the laboratory experiment. From an analysis of the questionnaire data we conclude that this practical helped Pharmacy students to understand these concepts.

Impacts of Land use on Selected Physicochemical Properties of Soils of Gindeberet Area, Western Oromia, Ethiopia

This study was carried out with the objective of determining impact of land uses on selected soil physicochemical properties of Gindeberet area, Western Ethiopia. Disturbed and undisturbed surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected from each land use type and examined for their analysis of soils physicochemical properties. Soil samples were analyzed at Ambo University Chemistry Laboratory. Standard procedures were employed for the analyses of selected soil properties. Soil pH ranged from 4.88 (cultivated land) to 5.65 (forest land). Soil bulk density was ranged from 1.09 (forest land) to 1.28 (g/cm3) (cultivated lands). Mean organic matter ranged from 1.38 (cultivated land) to 2.01% (forest land). Mean soil available phosphorus ranged from 2.23 (cultivated land) 4.30ppm (forest land). Mean total nitrogen ranged from 0.08% (cultivated land) to 0.11% (forest land). Mean soil exchangeable calcium and magnesium ranged from 8.16(cultivated land) to 13.44 cmol(+)/ kg (forest land) and 3.54(cultivated land) to 5.33 cmol(+)/ kg (forest land) respectively, while mean soil exchangeable potassium and sodium ranged from 0.28 (cultivated land) to 0.71 cmol(+)/ kg (forest land) and 0.36(cultivated land) to 0.75 cmol(+)/ kg (forest land) respectively. The CEC ranged from 7.63 (cultivated land) to 16.53 cmol(+)/ kg (forest land).Mean available iron, manganese, zinc and copper ranges from 37.08 to 37.71, 22.18 to 37.70, 4.79 to 6.39 and 1.88 to 2.49 respectively. All available micronutrients are higher in forest land and lower in cultivated land. The study pointed out that, the difference between different land use type on soil moisture content, pH, cation exchange capacity, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus and exchangeable bases. From the present study, it could be concluded that the soil quality and health were maintained relatively under the forest land, whereas the influence on most soil parameters were negative on the cultivated land, indicating the need for employing integrated soil fertility management in sustainable manner to optimize and maintain the favorable soil physicochemical properties.