Antibacterial and in vivo reactivity of bioactive glass and poly(vinyl alcohol) composites prepared by melting and sol-gel techniques

Bioactive glass particle is used in the repair of bone defects. This material undergoes a series of surface in vivo reactions, which leads to osteointegration. We evaluated the effect of the bioactive glass synthesis, sol-gel (BG(S)) versus melting (BG(M)), associated with polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) on in vivo bioactivity with biochemical parameters, liver-kidney histological structure and antibacterial in vitro activity. These composites were testified in many bacteria and implanted in ovariectomized rat. The serum and organs (liver and kidney) of all groups, control and treated rats, were collected to investigate the side effects of our composites, BG(S)-PVA and BG(M)-PVA, in comparison with control and ovariectomized rats. Also, the implants, before and after implantation, were prepared for analysis using physicochemical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Our results have shown the stability of natremia, kaliemia, calcemia and phosphoremia. The histological structures of liver and kidney in implanted rats are intact compared to control and ovariectomized rats. BG(S)-PVA is characterized by a higher antibacterial effect on negative and positive gram bacteria than BG(M)-PVA. The physicochemical results have confirmed a progressive degradation of BG(S)-PVA and BG(M)-PVA, while replacing the implant by an apatite layer. But this bioactivity of BG(S)-PVA is faster than BG(M)-PVA. We can therefore confirm, on the one hand, the biocompatibility of our two implants and, on the other hand, the beneficial effect of sol-gel synthesis technique versus melting, both on the antibacterial effect and on the rapid formation of layer hydroxyapatite, and consequently on osteogenesis.     

Interfacial characteristics of poly(ε-caprolactone)-grafted-halloysites nanotubes bionanocomposites

Dielectric and thermal characterization of nanohybrid films based on poly(ε-caprolactone) biopolymer were investigated. Nano-composites samples with distinct loadings of halloysite nanotubes (HNT) were prepared by in situ Ring Opening Polymerisation of ε-caprolactone. The effect of the incorporated HNT on the molecular relaxation process and interfacial polarization of PCL was studied via broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) on a frequency domain starting from 1E-1 to 1E6 Hz and at temperatures ranging from −70°C to 50°C. The BDS measurements revealed four significant dielectric processes α-primary relaxation attributed to glass transition, β-secondary relaxation and two interfacial polarizations due to the semi-crystalline character of PCL and the added HNT fillers. According to our results, the weight ratio of HNT ranging between 3% and 5% is recommended for achieving the highest performing nanocomposite that can be used in several applications.     

Changes in Fatty Acids,Tocochromanols, Carotenoids and Chlorophylls Content During Flaxseed Development

A comparative study was performed to determine tocopherols, tocotrienols, fatty acids, and pigments content during the development of three varieties of flaxseed (H52, O116 and P129). Seed samples were collected at regular intervals from 7 to 56 days after flowering (DAF). The highest content of chlorophyll (89.72–130.5 mg/kg oil) was detected at 7 DAF. The maximum level of carotenoids (52.10–65.55 mg/kg oil) was reached at 21 DAF. During seed development, unsaturated fatty acids are the major component, reaching 85% of the total fatty acids while saturated fatty acids content were about 15%. The maximum level of γ-tocopherol (585 mg/kg oil) was reached at 42 DAF in P129 variety. These results may be useful for evaluating the flaxseed quality and determining its optimal harvest period.     

Electron beam irradiation in natural fibres reinforced polymers (NFRP)

This study focuses on the electric charge motion in unsatured polyester and epoxy composites reinforced by natural fibres of Alfa type, treated by different coupling agents. The electric charging phenomenon is studied by scanning electron microscopy mirror effect (SEMME) coupled with the induced current method (ICM). Previously, using the same approach, glass fibre reinforced epoxy (GFRE) was studied to correlate mechanical [B. Kchaou, C. Turki, M. Salvia, Z. Fakhfakh, D. Tréheux, Composites Science and Technology 64 (2004) 1467], or tribological [B. Kchaou, C. Turki, M. Salvia, Z. Fakhfakh, D. Tréheux, Dielectric and friction behaviour of unidirectionalglass fibre reinforced epoxy (GFRE), Wear, 265 (2008) 763.] properties and dielectric properties. It was shown that the dielectric properties of the fibre-matrix interfaces play a significant role in the optimization of the composite. This result seems to be the same for natural fibre composites: the fibre-matrix interfaces allow a diffusion of the electric charges which can delocalize the polarization energy and consequently delay the damage of the composite. However, a non-suited sizing can lead to a new trapping of electric charges along these same interfaces with, as a consequence, a localization of the polarisation energy. The optimum composite is obtained for one sizing which helps, at the same time, to have a strong fibre-matrix adhesion and an easy flow of the electric charges along the interface.     

Policosanol distribution and accumulation in developing corn kernels

Policosanol is a mixture of long-chain primary aliphatic alcohols. The policosanol composition of whole corn kernel was determined in three varieties of corn (Astro, GH2547, Local). The total policosanol content of GH2547 (20.5 mg/kg of dry weight) was higher than those of Local (16.6 mg/kg) and Astro (15.2 mg/kg). The major policosanol components of whole corn kernel were dotriacontanol, triacontanol and tetracosanol. The distribution of policosanol in the germ, endosperm and pericarp of corn kernels was also determined. Corn pericarp had higher contents of policosanols (72.7–110.9 mg/kg) than the endosperm (4.0–16.2 mg/kg) and germ (19.3–37.1 mg/kg) fractions. Corn pericarp policosanol was mainly triacontanol (33.63–46.29 mg/kg), dotriacontanol (22.31–39.46 mg/kg) and octacosanol (8.13–14.0 mg/kg). In contrast, the corn germ fraction contained mostly dotriacontanol (more than 50%) and no triacontanol. The main components of corn endosperm policosanol were triacontanol and hexacosanol. The level of tetracosanol was highest in the germ fraction and lowest in the endosperm fraction. The greatest change in policosanol content (expressed as mg/100 g of oil) occurred during the early stages of corn kernel development. Although the structures of the alcohol constituents of policosanol are similar, their patterns of accumulation were different. The highest levels of octacosanol and dotriacontanol were detected at 20 days after pollination (DAP) followed by a rapid decrease between 20 and 30 DAP. Triacontanol levels decreased rapidly between 10 and 40 DAP, and then remained nearly constant.     

Electrical Resistivity Behavior and VRH Transport Mechanism in Semiconducting La0.6Sr0.4Mn1−2x Fe x Cr x O3 (0.10≤x≤0.25) Manganites

The transport properties and conduction mechanism in La_0.6Sr_0.4Mn_1?2x Fe _x Cr _x O₃ (0≤x≤0.3) have been investigated. The undoped samples show metal–semiconductor transition with a peak of resistivity at a temperature T _P , whereas for all doped compounds the semiconducting behavior persists in the whole temperature range. The insertion of Cr³⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions leads to the increase of resistivity because the simultaneous substitution of Fe³⁺ and Cr³⁺ for Mn³⁺ reduces the number of available hopping sites for the Mn e _g↑ electron and suppresses the double-exchange mechanism. It was found that the transport mechanism for substituted samples is dominated by the variable range hopping of small polarons between localized states in a model where the various parameters estimated from Mott’s relation obey the variable range hopping (VRH) mechanism.     

Throughput performance of memory ARQ schemes

We present a throughput analysis for the memory automatic repeat request (ARQ) schemes with self-decodable frame retransmissions, taking into account frame header and frame acknowledgment failure probability. A lower bound on the throughput is obtained for a very general class of schemes which encompasses many of those proposed in the literature. Numerical results are given for several example systems, and suitable header and acknowledgment forward error correction (FEC) encodings are determined     

Adaptive trellis-coded multiple-phase-shift keying for Rayleighfading channels

An adaptive scheme for trellis-coded modulation of MPSK signals, called adaptive trellis-coded multiple-phase-shift keying (ATCMPSK), is proposed for slowly Rayleigh fading channels. The adaptive scheme employs a slightly modified rate 1/2 convolutional encoder and the corresponding Viterbi decoder to realize a family of codes of different rates which are employed according to channel conditions. During poor channel conditions, trellis-coded QPSK (TCQPSK) together with repetition schemes are employed. As channel conditions improve, higher rate schemes such as trellis-coded 16 PSK are used. An interleaving/deinterleaving method suitable for the adaptive scheme is proposed. Theoretical bounds for the error performance and an exact expression for the throughput of the proposed adaptive scheme are derived, and are compared against simulation results. Simulations have been performed to measure the performance of the scheme for different parameters and some nonideal conditions. It is shown that ATCMPSK results in considerable improvement in bit-error-rate (BER) performance of MPSK signals. Under ideal conditions, gains in the range of 3-20 dB are achieved over conventional fixed rate pragmatic trellis-coded schemes     

Morphological,spectroscopic and photocatalytic properties of Eu3+:TiO2 synthesized by solid-state and hydrothermal-assisted sol-gel processes

Eu³⁺ doped TiO₂ powders were synthesized by solid-state reaction and hydrothermal-assisted sol-gel process. They were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and photoluminescence techniques. Both synthetic procedures yield the pure anatase phase of titania. The excitation and emission spectra and the decay profiles were measured for different thermal treatments of the samples, in order to investigate the effects of the synthesis conditions on the doping mechanism. The photocatalytic activity was investigated by measuring the degradation of methylene blue under UV light irradiation and a correlation between its efficiency and the luminescence performance has been proposed.