Influence of the structure of polymer fiber composites on the analysis of the zeta potential

This article addresses the questions about the influence of surface area, roughness, and sample mounting on the zeta potential analysis. A series of knitted yarns and fabrics of cotton and modacryl and their blends represent a real‐life model system to study these effects. The combination of the natural cotton and the man‐made modacryl makes possible to study the effect of the different origin for surface and interfacial charge and the surface area‐weighted contributions to the average zeta potential of a chemically heterogeneous composite material. In our study, two measuring cells of the SurPASS electrokinetic analyzer were used, namely the Cylindrical Cell and the Adjustable Gap Cell. Comparison of the results obtained in two different measuring cells was related to the measured material. We used the Cylindrical Cell for both the zeta potential analysis of yarn and knitted fabrics and compared these results with data obtained for knitted fabrics using the Adjustable Gap Cell. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46227.     

An algorithm for robust image watermarking based on the DCT and Zernike moments

An image watermarking scheme in the 2D DCT domain is proposed by exploring the advantages of using Zernike moments. Zernike transform has been used in image processing applications such as image recognition, authentication, protection, etc. Here, we propose to use the Zernike moments of the DCT transform to provide an efficient watermarking method. Particularly, the novelty of the proposed approach relies on the method for selection of features that will enable both preserving the image quality and robustness to attacks. Also, a criterion for selection of image blocks suitable for watermarking is given. It is based on the ? ₁-norm of Zernike moments. The efficiency of the proposed watermarking algorithm is proved on several examples considering different types of attacks (compression, noise, filtering, geometrical attacks).     

Biocompatible surface modification of poly(ethylene terephthalate) focused on pathogenic bacteria: Promising prospects in biomedical applications

Poly(ethylene terephthalate)—PET, is one of the most common polyesters, widely used in biomedical applications ranging from catheters to stents, vascular grafts, heart valves, sutures, and scaffolds. PET surface modification is necessary to impart desired properties for biomedical applications, making the polymer biocompatible, noncytotoxic and antibacterial that can preferably resist biofilm formation caused by pathogenic bacteria. A novel approach to anticorrosive wet chemical surface modification of PET by insertion of alkyl and hydroxyl groups was achieved by using Grignard reagents and confirmed by several different characterization methods including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), water contact angle (WCA) measurement, free surface energy (FSE) measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). High antibacterial efficiency against four different types of biofilm active, pathogenic bacterial strains namely: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, methicillin‐resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was established on the modified PET surface. Biocompatibility higher than 84% of the modified samples has been proved. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44990.     

Adsorption of hydrophilic and hydrophobic pharmaceuticals on RO/NF membranes: Identification of interactions using FTIR

This article examines the adsorption of pharmaceuticals on reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes. The membranes were characterized in terms of Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) spectra, surface charge, hydrophobicity, pore size distribution, and roughness. Five pharmaceuticals were used to determine their rejection and possible interactions with the membranes. Albendazole, a hydrophobic pharmaceutical, adsorbed on the NF (NF270) and RO (XLE) membranes. FTIR spectra showed significant changes (new peaks/bonds) on the membranes, confirming that adsorption plays an important role in the overall mechanism of rejection in the case of hydrophobic compounds. Hydrophilic pharmaceuticals (sulfaguanidine, trimethoprim, hydrocortisone, and procaine) did not adsorb on the XLE membrane, showing that size exclusion and electrostatic repulsion were both dominant removal mechanisms. This article gives new insights into NF membranes in the treatment of hydrophilic compounds. The results clearly show the adsorption of hydrophilic compounds on the NF membranes since H‐bonds and π–π interactions were observed on their FTIR spectra. Therefore, both the hydrophobic and the hydrophilic adsorption have to be taken into account when considering the removal mechanism, especially in the case of NF membranes. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44426.     

Chemical etching of (100) GaAs in the (NH4)2Cr2O7-H2SO4-N H4Cl-H2O system

The etching solution containing ammonium dichromate, sulphuric acid and ammonium chloride in water solution allows for the investigation of the influence of individual active components and their concentration on the etching reaction with GaAs. The influence of these agents on etching as well as the temperature and stirring were examined. The etching rate increases with increasing Cl^– ion concentration, increases and subsequently decreases with the increasing of H⁺ ion concentration and remains constant in the wide range of oxidant anion concentration. The effect of stirring on etching rate allows us to estimate regions dominated by diffusion kinetics. The activation energy in the wide range of parameters is constant and equal to 60 kJ mol^–1. Microscopic observations reveal surfaces of various morphologies: smooth; covered with round hills; or with a network of veins. Various profiles of grooves arranged in various directions are revealed due to the preferential characteristic of etching; these profiles are also influenced by the mask material.     

Interactions of phospholipase D with 1,2 diacyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphorylcholine,dodecylsulfate, and Ca2+

Some properties of the pure, soluble phospholipase D (phosphatidycholine phosphatido hydrolase, EC 3.1.4.4) interactions with phosphatidyl choline (1,2 diacyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphoryl choline) in a system also containing dodecylsulfate and Ca²⁺ ions were studied. Concentrations of Ca²⁺ greater than 50 mM were necessary both for activity and adsorption of the enzyme to the “supersubstrate.” Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid caused inhibition of activity, greater than one would expect from its chelating capacity. A nonlinear increase in activity with the increase of enzyme protein was observed, suggesting a subunit aggregation into a higher mol wt protein, catalytically more active. Upon centrifugation of the supersubstrate-enzyme complex at 4.5×10⁵ g·min at 30 C, most of the substrate molecules sedimented regardless of the pH. The reverse was true when centrifugation was done at 1 C. Phospholipase D hydrolyzed phosphatidylcholine molecules present in the supersubstrate at temperatures around 0 C at a rate 1/5 that of a maximal value measured at 30C. The Arrhenius plot was linear in the range from 0 to 30 C, and at that temperature the curve broke with a smaller slope. Activation energy of 9.1 Kcal/mol, below 30 C, was calculated. Adsorption of the enzyme to the sedimentable supersubstrate occurred at pH 8.0, regardless of temperature. At pH 5.6, a considerable portion of phosphatidylcholine was degraded at 30 C, thus minimizing the capacity of the supersubstrate to adsorb the enzyme. Although Mg²⁺ could replace Ca²⁺ in the formation of sedimentable supersubstrate, it neither assists in adsorption of the enzyme nor in activation of the phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis.     

(S)-(+)-linalool,a mate attractant pheromone component in the bee Colletes cunicularius

Enantiomerically pure (S)-(+)-linalool was the main constituent in the extracts of the cephalic secretions of virgin females, mated females, freshly emerged males, and patrolling males of the solitary bee Colletes cunicularius. After copulation, the content of (S)-(+)-linalool emitted by the female was strongly reduced. Electrophysiological experiments revealed that both enantiomers of linalool elicited responses from the antennae of the males. Field tests using the pure enantiomers and the racemate of linalool showed that the number of male bees attracted was highest for (S)-(+)-linalool. The search flight activity in the mating flight area increased dramatically when patrolling males were presented with (S)-(+)-linalool vs (R)-(–)-linalool. Taken together, these data indicate a mate attractant pheromone function of (S)-(+)-linalool.     

Recommending people to people: the nature of reciprocal recommenders with a case study in online dating

People-to-people recommenders constitute an important class of recommender systems. Examples include online dating, where people have the common goal of finding a partner, and employment websites where one group of users needs to find a job (employer) and another group needs to find an employee. People-to-people recommenders differ from the traditional items-to-people recommenders as they must satisfy both parties; we call this type of recommender reciprocal. This article is the first to present a comprehensive view of this important recommender class. We first identify the characteristics of reciprocal recommenders and compare them with traditional recommenders, which are widely used in e-commerce websites. We then present a series of studies and evaluations of a content-based reciprocal recommender in the domain of online dating. It uses a large dataset from a major online dating website. We use this case study to illustrate the distinctive requirements of reciprocal recommenders and highlight important challenges, such as the need to avoid bad recommendations since they may make users to feel rejected. Our experiments indicate that, by considering reciprocity, the rate of successful connections can be significantly improved. They also show that, despite the existence of rich explicit profiles, the use of implicit profiles provides more effective recommendations. We conclude with a discussion, linking our work in online dating to the many other domains that require reciprocal recommenders. Our key contributions are the recognition of the reciprocal recommender as an important class of recommender, the identification of its distinctive characteristics and the exploration of how these impact the recommendation process in an extensive case study in the domain of online dating.     

Comparison of tribological parameters of surfaces determined by the stylus method and by the immersion method of holographic interferometry

The investigation of surface roughness by the use of the improved immersion method of holographic interferometry is reported in this paper; the results obtained for some engineering surfaces are given.The application of the holographic microscope, specially designed imersion cell and transparent replicas that reproduce details of the differently machined engineering surfaces allows us to obtain contour maps of the surface asperities with intervals between contour lines of about 1 μm.The contour maps were used for determining the tribological parameters of the surface which were compared with those obtained by the use of stylus methods.It is shown with a few examples that the roughness parameters determined from the contour maps have greater values than those obtained by the profilometry.