Improving melt strength of polypropylene by minimal branching and blending

Branched polypropylenes (PPb) with markedly improved melt strength were produced without significantly affecting the processability of the original PP. A two-step process of functionalization with MA and crosslinking with m-XDA was used, both by batch mixing and by extrusion. Branching degrees of ~0.06 LCB/1000 monomer units or smaller were obtained. All PPbs display clear and significant strain hardening, being the PPb obtained by extrusion the one that shows the largest melt strength. This polymer has a zero-shear-rate viscosity slightly smaller than that of PP while its strain-hardening index is about 10 times higher. Moreover, the nonlinear behavior of PP at elongation begins at a time similar to its terminal relaxation time or larger, while the ratio of these times reduces significantly with branching. PP/PPb blends were prepared to extend the range of obtainable melt strength in PP. They display rheological behavior between those of the mixed polymers with slight positive deviation. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 137, 48845.     

Can NBPT urease inhibitor in combination with Azospirillum brasilense inoculation improve wheat development?

Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems - This research was developed to investigate the use of Azospirillum brasilense to enhance N use in wheat cropping systems and to assess the potential...     

The Reprimo-Like Gene Is an Epigenetic-Mediated Tumor Suppressor and a Candidate Biomarker for the Non-Invasive Detection of Gastric Cancer

Reprimo-like (RPRML) is an uncharacterized member of the Reprimo gene family. Here, we evaluated the role of RPRML and whether its regulation by DNA methylation is a potential non-invasive biomarker of gastric cancer. RPRML expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 90 patients with gastric cancer and associated with clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes. The role of RPRML in cancer biology was investigated in vitro, through RPRML ectopic overexpression. Functional experiments included colony formation, soft agar, MTS, and Ki67 immunofluorescence assays. DNA methylation-mediated silencing was evaluated by the 5-azacytidine assay and direct bisulfite sequencing. Non-invasive detection of circulating methylated RPRML DNA was assessed in 25 gastric cancer cases and 25 age- and sex-balanced cancer-free controls by the MethyLight assay. Downregulation of RPRML protein expression was associated with poor overall survival in advanced gastric cancer. RPRML overexpression significantly inhibited clonogenic capacity, anchorage-independent growth, and proliferation in vitro. Circulating methylated RPRML DNA distinguished patients with gastric cancer from controls with an area under the curve of 0.726. The in vitro overexpression results and the poor patient survival associated with lower RPRML levels suggest that RPRML plays a tumor-suppressive role in the stomach. Circulating methylated RPRML DNA may serve as a biomarker for the non-invasive detection of gastric cancer.     

A convolutional neural network approach on bead geometry estimation for a laser cladding system

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology - Laser cladding is a complex manufacturing process. As the laser beam melts the feedstock powder, small changes in laser power or...     

Effective Method to Enhance the Glass-Forming Ability of Vitreloy 105 Containing High Oxygen Concentrations

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - Oxygen sensitiveness of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) is well known and has a huge detrimental effect decreasing the alloy glass-forming ability...     

A sparse linear regression model for incomplete datasets

Pattern Analysis and Applications - Incomplete data are often neglected when designing machine learning methods. A popular strategy adopted by practitioners to circumvent this consists of taking a...