Surface characterization of PET nonwoven fabric treated by He/O2 atmospheric pressure plasma

The surface of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) nonwoven fabric was modified by He/O₂ atmospheric pressure plasma treatment, varying plasma exposure time. The plasma treated PET surfaces have been analyzed to investigate the chemical nature and morphology of surface by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The change of wettability was measured depending on plasma exposure time. XPS results indicated the presence of oxygen‐based functional groups on the PET nonwoven fabric surface after plasma treatment and oxygen content increased as exposure time increased. The mean roughness increased after 30 s exposure and further increase in exposure to 60 s led to decrease of the roughness and then again increase. The root mean square roughness followed the similar trend to mean roughness. The average difference in height, Rz, increased after plasma exposure for 30 s, while it slightly decreased after 60 s exposure. Despite of redeposition, the Rz of 90 s exposed sample increased more than two times compared with those of 30 and 60 s exposed. Wettability increased progressively up to 10 times after 90 s exposure compared with the untreated. It is attributed to the increases of hydrophilicity and surface roughness. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Structure and processability of iodinated poly(vinyl alcohol). IV. Drawability of the films iodinated at solution before casting

The drawability of iodinated at solution before casting (IBC) polyvinyl alcohol films prepared by casting aqueous solutions of 10 wt % PVA containing 15.2, 39.8, 83.2, 117.0, and 140.1% was examined with a tensile tester at 20–60°C. The tensile behavior of IBC films showed that the yield and breaking loads were much lower, and the breaking elongation was even higher than those of the unoriented iodinated after casting (IAC) films as well as the untreated PVA films. The maximum draw ratios of the films with the weight gain of 15.2, 39.8, 83.2, 117, and 140.1% were 4.5, 5.5, 8.5, 8.0, and 7.5, respectively, which were achieved at 20°C in all. The crystallinity of all films increased by the maximum draw, regardless of crystallinity before drawing. The crystalline structure was recovered to the original PVA crystalline lattice by deiodination. Amorphous orientation and initial moduli increased with the maximum draw ratio, while the orientation of crystals was constant. The orientation and moduli increased up to the weight gain of 83.2%, whose highest draw ratio and initial modulus were 8.5 and of 7.1 GPa, respectively, and then decreased. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Polysaccharide‐based artificial extracellular matrix: Preparation and characterization of three‐dimensional,macroporous chitosan,and heparin composite scaffold

Scaffold‐guided tissue engineering based on synthetic and natural occurring polymers has gained many interests in recent year. In this study, the development of a chitosan‐heparin artificial extracellular matrix (AECM) is reported. Three‐dimensional, macroporous composite AECMs composed of heparin (Hep) and chitosan (Chito) were prepared by an interpolyelectrolyte complex/lyophilization method. The Chito‐Hep composite AECMs were, respectively, crosslinked with glutaraldehyde, as well as cocrosslinked with N,N‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)‐N′‐ethyl carbodiimide (EDC/NHS) and N‐hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). The crosslinking reactions were examined by FT‐IR analysis. In physiological buffer solution (PBS), the EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECM showed a relative lower water retention ratio than its glutaraldehyde‐crosslinked counterparts. The EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECMs showed excellent biocompatibility, according to the results of the in vitro cytotoxic test. This result suggested that the EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECMs might be a potential biomaterial for scaffold‐guided tissue engineering applications. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Analysis on a mobile agent-based algorithm for network routing and management

Ant routing is a method for network routing in agent technology. Although its effectiveness and efficiency have been demonstrated and reported in the literature, its properties have not yet been well studied. This paper presents some preliminary analysis on an ant algorithm in regard to its population growing property and jumping behavior. Results conclude that as long as the value max, {i/spl Omega//sub j/|} is known, the practitioner is able to design the algorithm parameters, such as the number of agents being created for each request, k, and the maximum allowable number of jumps of an agent, in order to meet the network constraint.     

安积伸：从设计“协奏”到设计“独奏”

从安积伸（Shin Azumi）第一次到英国算起，他和英国、和伦敦已经有了近15年的情结。安积伸早已成了各类媒体报道和机构介绍里频繁出现的名字，就连英国设计节的创始人之一约翰·索瑞（John Sorrell）在《Creative Island（创意之岛）》一书中也将其作为对英国创意产业有所影响的驻岛设计师予以了收录。安积伸目前依然在伦敦经营着自己“astudio”．一个从事产品、家具和空间设计的工作室。[第一段]     

New approach to enhance adhesions between carbon nanotube emitters and substrate by the combination of electrophoresis and successive electroplating

Complementary electroplating combined with electrophoresis enhanced the field emission characteristics of emitters by improving the adhesions between CNT emitters and substrate. The emitting current of the CNT emitters prepared by our combined method increased nine times higher than that of CNT emitters prepared by electrophoresis only, since electroplating improved the adhesion of CNT emitters. During the life-time measurement for 10 h, the emitting current of CNT emitters fabricated by electrophoresis only was drastically decreased to 13% of the initial current, while that prepared by the combination of electrophoresis and successive electroplating decreased to 64% of the initial current. We suggest that our method is a promising approach for the efficient fabrication of reliable CNT emitters.