Nutritional recovery of mild and moderately malnourished children under two different treatment approaches (ambulatory versus day-care)

This retrospective analysis was conducted between May 1997 and May 2000 at the Centro de Atención Nutricional Infantil de Antímano, CANIA, in Caracas, Venezuela to assess the efficacy of two treatments (ambulatory versus day-care) of mild and moderate malnourished children. Inclusion criteria were: children under 10 years old with mild and moderate malnourishment, who attended a minimum of 3 control visits during a period of 12 months. One hundred fourteen malnourished children were included: fifty seven in ambulatory treatment and fifty seven in day-care treatment paired per nutritional diagnosis, gender and age (thirty nine mild and eighteen moderate malnourished children). The nutritional recovery criterion was weight for height above tenth percentile. No relation was found between treatment approaches and nutritional recovery at 3 and 6 months of treatment. In the group of mild malnourished children, the percentage of recovered patients at 3 months of treatment, that kept their recovered condition at 6 months was 83% (15/18) in the ambulatory treatment and 82% (18/22) in the day-care treatment Age of children, associated disease, acute morbidity, dietetic risk and mother's education and age were not associated with nutritional recovery at 6 months of treatment (p > 0.05). The day-care approach resulted as effective as ambulatory in mild malnourished children. In moderate malnourished new studies will need to be conducted with greater number of patients.     

Empirical Likelihood for Outlier Detection and Estimation in Autoregressive Time Series

Identification and estimation of outliers in time series is proposed by using empirical likelihood methods. Theory and applications are developed for stationary autoregressive models with outliers distinguished in the usual additive and innovation types. Some other useful outlier types are considered as well. A simulation experiment is used for studying the behaviour of the empirical likelihood‐based method in finite samples and indicates that the proposed methods are preferable when dealing with the non‐Gaussian data. Our simulations suggest that the usual sequential procedure for multiple outlier detection is suitable also for the methods based on empirical likelihood.     

Capillary extrusion behavior of phenolphthalein poly(ether-ether-sulphone) (PES-C)

The capillary extrusion flow properties of novel engineering thermoplastic phenolphthalein poly(ether-ether-sulphone) (PES-C) have been investigated using capillary rheometer. The dependence of viscosity on the wall shear rate and temperatures were obtained. The flow activation energy was found to decrease with shear rate but to be constant with shear stress. The entrance effect was calculated and from which the extensional behavior was estimated using Cogswell's method. From the extrudate swell ratio the principal normal stress was evaluated and a temperature-independent correlation was observed when they were plotted against shear stress. The melt fracture phenomena were checked and discussed also. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 65:951–958, 1997     

Review on the durability of exterior wood coatings with reduced VOC-content

The main factors that contribute to the durability of exterior wood coatings are discussed with special emphasis on the recent developments to reduce the volatile organic compound (VOC) content in these types of coating like water-borne acrylic dispersions, water-borne alkyds or high solid alkyd formulations. The performance of a coating during outdoor weathering is determined by: photochemical degradation (only for paints that are not opaque), moisture permeability in relation to wood-moisture content and dimensional change and the microbiological degradation at the wood–coating interface. The results from various outdoor weathering studies are discussed. These studies show fairly consistent results with respect to the influence of coating type or wood species. However, a sound theory about the mechanism of failure, that can related to basic properties of the coating or the binder, has not yet been established.     

Water‐soluble/dispersible carbazole‐containing random and block copolymers by nitroxide‐mediated radical polymerisation

A series of carbazole‐containing water‐dispersible poly(acrylic acid)‐b‐(9‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐9H‐carbazole) block copolymers (poly(AA)‐b‐poly(VBK)) and water‐soluble poly(methacrylic acid‐ran‐(9‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐9H‐carbazole)) (poly(MAA‐ran‐VBK)) random copolymers were synthesised in a controlled manner (i.e. low polydispersities $(\overline {M_{{\rm w}} } /\overline {M_{n} } < 1.3)$ by nitroxide‐mediated polymerisation (NMP) using an SG1‐based alkoxyamine initiator, BlocBuilder. Poly(AA)‐b‐poly(VBK) block copolymers were most easily accessed by using poly(AA) in its protected form as the macroinitiator for the 9‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐9H‐carbazole (VBK) block. Controlled polymerisation of MAA was accomplished using an excess of 10 mol.% SG1 relative to BlocBuilder with VBK as controlling co‐monomer (initial molar feed content f_VBK,0 = 0.03–0.20) in dimethylformamide at 80°C. Poly(MAA‐ran‐VBK) copolymers with a final VBK molar composition of F_VBK < 0.30 resulted in water‐soluble copolymers. In addition, as macroinitiators, poly(MAA‐ran‐VBK)s were sufficiently pseudo‐living to reinitiate a second batch of monomer (90 mol.% methyl methacrylate with styrene) in organic solvent and by ab initio, surfactant‐free emulsion polymerisation. In both cases, low polydispersity, amphiphilic block copolymers resulted $(\overline {M_{{\rm w}} } /\overline {M_{{\rm n}} } < 1.3)$ . © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering     

Controlled Mesoporosity in SiOC via Chemically Bonded Polymeric “Spacers”

Silicon oxycarbides with controlled porosity in the mesopore range have been obtained through high‐temperature pyrolysis of newly developed reactive siloxane formulations. The starting gels have been synthesized via Pt catalyzed hydrosilylation reaction between polyhydromethylsiloxane (PHMS) and vinyl‐terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) of different molecular weights in the presence of tetravinyltetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane as a crosslinking enhancer. In our approach, the PDMS serves the double purpose of size‐controlling templating agent as well as solvent at the early stages of the synthesis. During the curing step, the vinyl‐terminated PDMS is chemically bonded to the preceramic network through the extremely efficient hydrosilylation reaction and “solidify.” Accordingly, its removal during pyrolysis occurs through decomposition of a solid phase with retention of the formed porosity. The structural and morphological evolution of the preceramic gels containing the molecular spacers have been investigated as a function of the thermal treatment temperature by N₂ physisorption measurements, thermogravimetry, and SEM analyses. The results show that the pore size distribution of the resulting SiOCs depends on the molecular weight of the PDMS and is directly related to the molecular volume assumimg that the PDMS chains are entangled into spheroidal shapes. The total pore volume is related to the initial amount of templating PDMS assuming its complete decomposition during pyrolysis.     

Wooden window frames with structural sealants: manufacturing improvements and experimental validation of a finite element model

This paper proposes a finite element (FE) model of a novel wooden window frame typology and validates it by experimental tests on window frames and corner joint specimens. The innovation consists of the application of the structural silicone sealant only at the interface between wood and one of the thin glass layers of the double-glazing glass, so achieving a low application depth. This technique reduces the sealant quantity and allows the disassembly and substitution of the glass from the frame in case of breakage. In order to inform the FE model of the whole frame, the dowelled butt corner joint strength is measured by specific experimental tests. The results show a good correlation between the FE model and the experimental results in the range of small frame deformations, which are of interest for the proposed application. In particular, the FE curve overestimates the bottom corner displacement of about 17% at 1000?N load, 7% at 2000?N and less than 5% at higher applied force on the upper corner. The model is then applied to various wooden frame geometries in order to evaluate if the proposed silicone application mode and dowelled corner joints type allow an acceptable stiffness of the frame, and, in particular, low deformations of the bottom corner joint, in order to maintain the wooden frame functionality when subject to external loads. The approach could be useful when assessing optimal sealing application modes, wood-sealant-glass joint geometries, corner joint geometries and window frame geometries to limit the bottom corner joint deformation within the required technical specifications.     

A brief review of environmentally benign antifouling and foul-release coatings for marine applications

Antifouling coatings for ship hulls are a very important topic in coating research. They are essential with respect to fuel consumption of ships: without antifouling coating, biological species start to adhere to the ship’s exterior, leading to a gradual increase in fuel consumption. To date, the working principle of most of the paint systems applied is based on slow release of toxins in time (self-polishing coatings). In this article, we discuss the environmental impact of marine antifouling coatings based on quantitative data available from literature. In addition, we critically review hydrophilic antifouling and hydrophobic foul-release coatings as toxin-free alternatives and discuss their potential for replacing self-polishing coatings.