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.     

The Plants of the Asteraceae Family as Agents in the Protection of Human Health

The Asteraceae family is one of the largest flowering plant families, with over 1600 genera and 2500 species worldwide. Some of its most well-known taxa are lettuce, chicory, artichoke, daisy and dandelion. The members of the Asteraceae have been used in the diet and for medicine for centuries. Despite their wide diversity, most family members share a similar chemical composition: for example, all species are good sources of inulin, a natural polysaccharide with strong prebiotic properties. They also demonstrate strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity, as well as diuretic and wound healing properties. Their pharmacological effects can be attributed to their range of phytochemical compounds, including polyphenols, phenolic acids, flavonoids, acetylenes and triterpenes. One such example is arctiin: a ligand with numerous antioxidant, antiproliferative and desmutagenic activities. The family is also a source of sesquiterpene lactones: the secondary metabolites responsible for the bitter taste of many plants. This mini review examines the current state of literature regarding the positive effect of the Asteraceae family on human health.     

Amyloid-Beta Induces Different Expression Pattern of Tissue Transglutaminase and Its Isoforms on Olfactory Ensheathing Cells: Modulatory Effect of Indicaxanthin

Herein, we assessed the effect of full native peptide of amyloid-beta (Aβ) (1-42) and its fragments (25-35 and 35-25) on tissue transglutaminase (TG2) and its isoforms (TG2-Long and TG2-Short) expression levels on olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs). Vimentin and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) were also studied. The effect of the pre-treatment with indicaxanthin from Opuntia ficus-indica fruit on TG2 expression levels and its isoforms, cell viability, total reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide anion (O₂⁻), and apoptotic pathway activation was assessed. The levels of Nestin and cyclin D1 were also evaluated. Our findings highlight that OECs exposure to Aβ(1-42) and its fragments induced an increase in TG2 expression levels and a different expression pattern of its isoforms. Indicaxanthin pre-treatment reduced TG2 overexpression, modulating the expression of TG2 isoforms. It reduced total ROS and O₂⁻ production, GFAP and Vimentin levels, inhibiting apoptotic pathway activation. It also induced an increase in the Nestin and cyclin D1 expression levels. Our data demonstrated that indicaxanthin pre-treatment stimulated OECs self-renewal through the reparative activity played by TG2. They also suggest that Aβ might modify TG2 conformation in OECs and that indicaxanthin pre-treatment might modulate TG2 conformation, stimulating neural regeneration in Alzheimer’s disease.     

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.     

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.     

An efficient method of generating vortex electromagnetic wave based on double‐layer transmissive metasurface

A broadband double‐layer transmissive metasurface (TMS) for effective generate vortex electromagnetic wave is presented in this paper. The proposed TMS consists of two types of elements. The first element is composed of a multi‐resonant dipole and four metal vias. The metal vias increase the coupling strength between the upper and lower layers to improve transmission efficiency. On the basis of the first element, the second element adds stubs to ensure sufficient phase shift. The far‐field cross polarisation is eliminated by special element arrangement. Then, a centre‐fed linear polarisation TMS is designed to generate orbital angular momentum beams with mode l = ? 1. The proposed TMS is designed, manufactured and measured to verify the proposed design. The measured results indicate that a maximum gain of 20.8 dBi and narrow divergence angle of ±5° are achieved at 18 GHz. Furthermore, mode purity is higher than 86.1% within the 17 to 19 GHz band. The proposed double‐layer TMS saved costs, reduced weight and without assembly error is a good candidate for OAM generator.