Fire safe,sustainable loose furnishing

The aim of this exploratory study has been to investigate the fire properties and environmental aspects of different upholstery material combinations, mainly for domestic applications. An analysis of the sustainability and circularity of selected textiles, along with lifecycle assessment, is used to qualitatively evaluate materials from an environmental perspective. The cone calorimeter was the primary tool used to screen 20 different material combinations from a fire performance perspective. It was found that textile covers of conventional fibres such as wool, cotton and polyester, can be improved by blending them with fire resistant speciality fibres. A new three‐dimensional web structure has been examined as an alternative padding material, showing preliminary promising fire properties with regard to ignition time, heat release rates and smoke production.     

Synthesis of a Fe3O4-rGO-ZnO-catalyzed photo-Fenton system with enhanced photocatalytic performance

In this work, we designed a magnetically-separable Fe₃O₄-rGO-ZnO ternary catalyst, ZnO anchored on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-wrapped Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles, where rGO, as an effective interlayer, can enhance the synergistic effect between ZnO and Fe₃O₄. The effects of three operational parameters, namely irradiation time, hydrogen peroxide dosage, and the catalyst dosage, on the photo-Fenton degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange were investigated. The results showed that the Fe₃O₄-rGO-ZnO had great potential for the destruction of organic compounds from wastewater using the Fenton chemical oxidation method at neutral pH. Repeatability of the photocatalytic activity after 5 cycles showed only a tiny drop in the catalytic efficiency.     

Improving Properties of Poly(vinylidene fluoride) by Adding Expanded Graphite without Surface Modification via Water‐Assisted Mixing Extrusion

Expanded graphite (EG) is introduced into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) by melt mixing extrusion with water injection. The results demonstrate that the unfunctionalized EG in composite prepared with water injection exbibits better dispersion than that in the one prepared without water injection due to the promoting role of water during extrusion. Thus, the PVDF/EG composite with loading of 4 wt% prepared by water‐assisted mixing extrusion (WAME) exhibits electrical conductivity of about three orders of magnitude higher than the neat PVDF and one order of magnitude higher than the one prepared without water injection. Comparing to the neat PVDF, the thermal conductivity of the composites prepared with and without water injection is increased by 101.5% and 75.0%, respectively. The introduced EG leads to increased Young’s modulus and tensile strength especially for the composite prepared by WAME. The present work indicates that WAME can promote the dispersion of EG in PVDF matrix without any extra functionalization.     

Chia Seed Oil Prevents High Fat Diet Induced Hyperlipidemia and Oxidative Stress in Mice

Hyperlipidemia is a common cardiovascular disease. At present, the influence of high fat diet (HFD) on this is being explored. Recently, vegetable oils rich in omega‐3 have been reported that can treat hyperlipidemia caused by HFD. However, the effects of chia seed oil (CSO) on HFD‐induced hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress are poorly studied. Hence, in this study, the effects of CSO on hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress induced by HFD in mice are analyzed by various commercial kits, section staining, and protein expression. The results show that CSO decreases body weight and organ index. Meanwhile, CSO reduces serum lipid levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol. It can also elevate superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities and reduce malondialdehyde content in serum and liver. The results of histopathological analysis prove that CSO improves hepatic steatosis and reduces lipid deposition. Further, the results of western blot demonstrate that CSO upregulates the expression of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor alpha and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a in the liver. As a result, CSO may be a potential lipid‐lowering oil to prevent and treat HFD‐induced hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress. Practical Applications CSO, as a byproduct of chia seed processing, is a rich source of α‐linolenic acid. This study investigates the effects of CSO on HFD‐induced hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress in mice. It is concluded that dietary CSO can improve the hyperlipidemia in HFD‐induced mice via analysis of lipid parameters, histopathology study of the liver, and lipid metabolism related genes. In addition, supplementation of CSO also can improve the oxidative stress in mice. Therefore, CSO can be used for the prevention of hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress. This research provides a theoretical basis for the comprehensive development and utilization of functional chia seed oil.     

Delivery of cisplatin by folic acid-targeted liposomal nanoparticles into liver cancer cell line

This study aimed to prepare cisplatin-loaded PEGylated liposomal nanoparticles targeted with folic acid and evaluate their efficacy on liver cancer cell line PLC/PRF/5 (Alexander hepatoma cell line). Nanoparticles were prepared by reverse phase evaporation technique and characterized by dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide techniques. Nanoscale particles with appropriate drug encapsulation efficiency (13%) were prepared. Cytotoxicity results indicated that the superior potency of targeted cisplatin-loaded nanoparticles compared to the nontargeted counterpart with 23% more cytotoxicity. Findings of this study confirmed the potency of targeted PEGylated liposomal nanoparticles.     

Delay compensated control of the Stefan problem and robustness to delay mismatch

This paper presents a control design for the one‐phase Stefan problem under actuator delay via a backstepping method. The Stefan problem represents a liquid‐solid phase change phenomenon which describes the time evolution of a material's temperature profile and the interface position. The actuator delay is modeled by a first‐order hyperbolic partial differential equation (PDE), resulting in a cascaded transport‐diffusion PDE system defined on a time‐varying spatial domain described by an ordinary differential equation (ODE). Two nonlinear backstepping transformations are utilized for the control design. The setpoint restriction is given to guarantee a physical constraint on the proposed controller for the melting process. This constraint ensures the exponential convergence of the moving interface to a setpoint and the exponential stability of the temperature equilibrium profile and the delayed controller in the norm. Furthermore, robustness analysis with respect to the delay mismatch between the plant and the controller is studied, which provides analogous results to the exact compensation by restricting the control gain.