Sugar decorated star-shaped (co)polymers with resveratrol-based core – physicochemical and biological properties

Journal of Materials Science - Star-shaped glycopolymers due to the attractive combination of the physicochemical, morphological, self-assembly properties along with biological activity have gained...     

Development of heating elements based on conductive polymer composites for electrofusion welding of plastics

Conductive polymer composites have been developed based on high-density polyethylene filled with carbon black (HDPE-CB), capable of generating heat when an electric voltage is applied. For each voltage value, the composite reached a constant value of equilibrium temperature, which obeyed a quadratic dependence on voltage and a linear dependence on electric power. The possibility of using such composites as heating elements (HE) for electrofusion welding of polyethylene adherents was evaluated in two modes, ''hard'', when high voltage was applied for a short welding time, and ''soft'', in which a stepwise regime of the applied voltage and a longer welding time were used. The latter provided a stronger welded joint. Using HE based on the HDPE-CB composites for welding of butt and lap joints of the polymer materials enabled to obtain welded joints with high strength.     

The friction properties of an ultrathin confined water film

A factorial design approach technique was adopted to understand the high stress abrasive behaviour of a diamond reinforced composite coating for various compositions at different loads and abrasive sizes. A linear regression equation was developed and used for understanding the influence of the diamond concentration, applied load, and abrasive sizes on the wear response. A negative value of the coefficient associated with diamond concentration, together with its interactions with the applied load; suggest that the wear rate decreases with increasing diamond concentration. By contrast, a positive coefficient suggests an increase in wear rate due to an increase in related factors such as the applied load and abrasive size. The coefficients associated with the interactions of the parameters are insignificant by comparison with the individual parameters, thereby demonstrating that the interaction effect of these parameters towards the wear rate is insignificant. The wear rate may be extracted in terms of the diamond concentration, the applied load and the abrasive grit size using the above linear regression equation.     

Multi-level privacy analysis of business processes: the Pleak toolset

International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer - Privacy regulations, such as GDPR, impose strict requirements to organizations that store and process private data....     

Comparative Proteomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Human Osteoblasts,Differentiated from Dental Pulp Stem Cells,Hinted Crucial Signaling Pathways Promoting Osteogenesis

Population aging has been a global trend for the last decades, which increases the pressure to develop new cell-based or drug-based therapies, including those that may cure bone diseases. To understand molecular processes that underlie bone development and turnover, we followed osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) using a specific induction medium. The differentiation process imitating in vivo osteogenesis is triggered by various signaling pathways and is associated with massive proteome and metabolome changes. Proteome was profiled by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography and comprehensively quantified by ion mobility-enhanced mass spectrometry. From 2667 reproducibly quantified and identified proteins, 432 were differentially abundant by strict statistic criteria. Metabolome profiling was carried out by nuclear magnetic resonance. From 27 detected metabolites, 8 were differentially accumulated. KEGG and MetaboAnalyst hinted metabolic pathways that may be involved in the osteogenic process. Enrichment analysis of differentially abundant proteins highlighted PPAR, FoxO, JAK-STAT, IL-17 signaling pathways, biosynthesis of thyroid hormones and steroids, mineral absorption, and fatty acid metabolism as processes with prominent impact on osteoinduction. In parallel, metabolomic data showed that aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, as well as specific amino acids, likely promote osteodifferentiation. Targeted immunoassays validated and complemented omic results. Our data underlined the complexity of the osteogenic mechanism. Finally, we proposed promising targets for future validation in patient samples, a step toward the treatment of bone defects.     

Electrical isolation of dislocations in Ge layers on Si(001) substrates through CMOS-compatible suspended structures

Suspended crystalline Ge semiconductor structures are created on a Si(001) substrate by a combination of epitaxial growth and simple patterning from the front surface using anisotropic underetching. Geometric definition of the surface Ge layer gives access to a range of crystalline planes that have different etch resistance. The structures are aligned to avoid etch-resistive planes in making the suspended regions and to take advantage of these planes to retain the underlying Si to support the structures. The technique is demonstrated by forming suspended microwires, spiderwebs and van der Pauw cross structures. We finally report on the low-temperature electrical isolation of the undoped Ge layers. This novel isolation method increases the Ge resistivity to 280 Ω cm at 10 K, over two orders of magnitude above that of a bulk Ge on Si(001) layer, by removing material containing the underlying misfit dislocation network that otherwise provides the main source of electrical conduction.     

Train energy simulation with locomotive adhesion model

Railway Engineering Science - Railway train energy simulation is an important and popular research topic. Locomotive traction force simulations are a fundamental part of such research. Conventional...