Synthesis of polyethylene glycol-polystyrene core-shell structure particles in a plasma-fluidized bed reactor

Particles with core-shell structure with polystyrene (PS) core and polyethylene glycol (PEG) grafted on the surface were synthesized in a plasma-fluidized bed reactor. The virgin, plasma-treated, and grafted powders were characterized by the DPPH method, UV-vis spectrophotometer, NMR, FT-IR and SEM. The plasma-treated PS powders have well formed peroxide on the surface. By PEG grafting polymerization, PEG is well grafted and dispersed on the surface of the plasma-treated PS powders. The PEG-g-PS powder exhibits the core shell structure in the cross-sectional SEM image, and it can be claimed that well dispersed PEG grafting polymerization on PS surface can be achieved in the plasma fluidized bed reactor.     

N-doped anodic titania nanotube arrays for hydrogen production

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanotube arrays are grown in a mixed electrolyte by anodizing process. The anodic nanotubes for N-doping were calcinated at 773 K in a tube furnace with a mixture of NH₃ and Ar gas. The photocatalytic activity of N-doped TiO₂ nanotubes was carried out in a water-splitting reaction under UV and visible light irradiation. Various characterization techniques (Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy, etc.) are used to study the surface morphology, phase of structure, and binding energy.     

An analysis of CH4/N2 rich biogas production, fuel treatment process and microturbine application

Biogas usually contains CH₄ and CO₂ as main components with the ratio of 6: 4, and its composition varies with wide range depending on digester conditions. In addition to concentration change of each constituent, biogas composition could be changed due to the variations in the organic matter treatment process. The aim of the study is to analyze the production and application to a microturbine system of CH₄/N₂ rich biogas produced from Gong-Ju wastewater treatment plant. CH₄/N₂ rich biogas is produced due to the internal wastewater recirculation. The internal wastewater recirculation is intended to enhance NO₃ ^? removal without additional carbon source input. As a result, the digester was shown to be the highest contributor for nitrogen removal and average CH₄ concentration was lowered compared to the typical biogas composition. Nitrate removal rate was influenced by the internal recirculation ratio. Content of N₂ has no effect on biogas clean-up system performance. Besides, adaptability of CH₄/N₂ rich biogas to microturbine was satisfactory with very low NOx and SO₂ concentration in microturbine exhaust gas. Influence of high N₂ concentration of biogas on NOx concentration was limited due to the low combustion temperature.     

Bacterial uptake of silver nanoparticles in the presence of humic acid and AgNO3

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), potent antibiotic materials, have been found to cause cell-membrane damage and produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). The resultant structural change in the cell-membrane could cause an increase in cell permeability of silver ions and AgNPs. To address this issue further, in-vivo and in-vitro cytotoxicity testing of as-made nanomaterials was conducted to quantify and assess their nanotoxicity. Considering the behavior of AgNPs in the environment, toxicity may be reflected by differences in their physicochemical properties (size, agglomeration rate, adsorption properties on humic acid) dependency and toxicity depression. Therefore, we investigated the effect of the cellular uptake of AgNPs with the kinetics of agglomeration and adsorption. The amount of agglomerated and adsorbed AgNPs with sizes of <14 nm was higher than that for AgNPs with sizes of 90 and 140 nm. For 90 and 140 nm sized AgNPs, adsorption was more significant than agglomeration. It is noteworthy that the normal concept that smaller sized AgNPs are taken up more readily may be in error in cases of interactions of abiotic factors.     

Production of active recombinant eIF5A: reconstitution in E.coli of eukaryotic hypusine modification of eIF5A by its coexpression with modifying enzymes

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) is the only cellular protein that contains the polyamine-modified lysine, hypusine [N(ε)-(4-amino-2-hydroxybutyl)lysine]. Hypusine occurs only in eukaryotes and certain archaea, but not in eubacteria. It is formed post-translationally by two consecutive enzymatic reactions catalyzed by deoxyhypusine synthase (DHS) and deoxyhypusine hydroxylase (DOHH). Hypusine modification is essential for the activity of eIF5A and for eukaryotic cell proliferation. eIF5A binds to the ribosome and stimulates translation in a hypusine-dependent manner, but its mode of action in translation is not well understood. Since quantities of highly pure hypusine-modified eIF5A is desired for structural studies as well as for determination of its binding sites on the ribosome, we have used a polycistronic vector, pST39, to express eIF5A alone, or to co-express human eIF5A-1 with DHS or with both DHS and DOHH in Escherichia coli cells, to engineer recombinant proteins, unmodified eIF5A, deoxyhypusine- or hypusine-modified eIF5A. We have accomplished production of three different forms of recombinant eIF5A in high quantity and purity. The recombinant hypusine-modified eIF5A was as active in methionyl-puromycin synthesis as the native, eIF5A (hypusine form) purified from mammalian tissue. The recombinant eIF5A proteins will be useful tools in future structure/function and the mechanism studies in translation.     

Fabrication of nano/microfiber scaffolds using a combination of rapid prototyping and electrospinning systems

Tissue‐engineered scaffolds require an adequate three‐dimensional (3‐D) structure for cell growth and attachment. Solid freeform fabrication can provide the interconnected pore to induce the cell ingrowth, and electrospinning technique can make the nanofiber web with high surface for cell attachment. In this study, 3‐D polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds were fabricated using a rapid prototyping plotting system coupled with an electrospinning apparatus. Scanning electron micrographs showed that these hybrid scaffolds had a regular microfiber structure with interconnected pores and a nanofiber distribution appropriate for cell attachment. Scaffolds were seeded with MG63 cells for in vitro study and implanted in the tibia of rabbit for in vivo study. The resulting structure also facilitated cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation as evidenced by biochemical analyses and confocal microscopy. The hybrid scaffolds also exhibited good biocompatibility and osteoconductivity in animal studies. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Effect of nanoclay addition on the foaming behavior of linear polypropylene‐based soft thermoplastic polyolefin foam blown in continuous extrusion

The goal of this study is to fabricate a soft foam with high cell density and high foam expansion based on thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), and to supply a potential candidate for soft thermoset foams. It was found that a linear polypropylene (PP)‐based TPO foam exhibited very poor cell morphology because of its weak melt strength. Nanoclay was introduced into the TPO to improve its foaming behavior. The extrusion foaming experiments demonstrated that the introduction of 0.5 wt% nanoclay significantly increased the cell morphology and expansion ratio of TPO/clay nanocomposite foams due to the enhanced cell nucleation and the possible cell coalescence suppression at low temperatures. At a high nanoclay content of 2.0 wt%, the cell density and foam expansion of foams increased continuously compared with the 0.5 wt% nanoclay addition. Our study suggested that it was possible to produce soft TPO foams with a well‐defined cell structure and high foam expansion using a continuous method, but that a proper PEOc content control was needed to maximize foam expansion. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. ©2011 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

Effects of condensational growth on culturability of airborne bacteria: Implications for sampling and control of bioaerosols

The effect of condensational growth, one of the important characteristics for both monitoring and controlling bioaerosols, on bioaerosol culturability was assessed in this study. Three species of bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Escherichia coli) were used. The measured growth factors of the bioaerosols ranged from 1.07 to 1.67 under various conditions and these data coincided with calculated results using both the thermodynamic approach and the moment method. The culturable fractions obtained using an Anderson type impactor were observed to increase as a result the formation of the liquid layer around the bioaerosols via condensational growth of the particle, which correspondingly resulted in both increase of physical collection efficiency and decrease of impaction stress. The culturable fractions of sampled bioaerosols increased up to 43% (for S. epidermidis), 27% (for P. fluorescens), and 12% (for E. coli) by condensational growth, compared to no condensational growth. However, the culturable fraction decreased when the condensational growth was excessive, probably due to heat transfer to the bioaerosols during the condensational process.     

Electrohydrodynamic nano-spraying of ethanolic natural plant extracts

Aerosol techniques have recently been used to process natural products for medical, pharmaceutical, and environmental health applications. In particular, electrohydrodynamic spraying, or electrospraying, which is a method of atomizing liquids by means of electrical forces, is a promising aerosol technology because it generates non-agglomerated particles due to repulsive electrical forces between particles with unipolar charges. We investigated the characteristics of natural-product nanoparticles generated via electrospraying. A plant extract containing a natural-product (Sophora flavescens) was sprayed in steady cone-jet mode using a specially designed electrospray system with a point-to-orifice-plate configuration. The electrosprayed natural-product particles maintained their bimodal size distribution with good stability and uniformity for longer than 1 h. Compared to generation characteristics observed using a conventional nebulization process, the electrospray technique produced non-agglomerated, spherical particles and resulted in a narrow size range for both peaks. The size distribution of electrosprayed particles was controlled by varying the suspension flow rate of S. flavescens extract. Also, they had a high average charge per particle and positive polarity. The nanoparticles maintained the major chemical composition of the original S. flavescens ethanolic extract during electrospraying. Our investigation demonstrated that the electrospray process, driven by high-intensity electric fields, can be used to generate nanoscale particles from natural products.