Sorption,Desorption, and Diffusion of Haloalkanes into Miscible Polymeric Blends of Ethylene-Propylene Random Copolymer and Isotactic Polypropylene

Molecular transport of haloalkanes into polymeric blend sheets of ethylene-propylene random copolymer and isotactic polypropylene, Santoprene, has been investigated gravimetrically in the temperature interval 25°-70°C. Equilibrium sorption, desorption, resorption, redesorption, and degree of penetrant overshoot were influenced by the type of haloalkane used and the experimental temperature. Diffusion coefficients have been computed for the sorption (S), desorption (D), resorption (RS), and redesorption (RD) runs. Temperature-dependent sorption and diffusion coefficients were analyzed using the Arrhenius relation. Santo-prene-haloalkane interactions have been discussed in terms of sorption, desorption, and diffusion coefficients.     

Hardfacing of a Modified 9Cr–1Mo Steel Component Using a Nickel-Base Alloy

A dashpot piston made of modified 9Cr–1Mo steel is hardfaced with NiCr-B alloy by the Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA) process. During initial trials, a large number of cracks were observed in the hardface deposit when hardfacing was carried out directly on the modified 9Cr–1Mo steel substrate using a preheat temperature of 723 K. Both the deposit and the martensitic structure formed in the heat affected zone of the substrate during deposition are hard and hence were unable to absorb the thermal stresses generated, leading to cracking. Subsequently, hardfacing trials carried out with an intermediate layer of 2 mm thick Inconel-625 alloy, were successful and deposits were crack-free. Use of a relatively soft Inconel-625 between the hardface deposit and the substrate reduced martensite formation in the substrate, and thus the cracking susceptibility of the deposit.     

Tuning physical properties of polyurethane hard segments through extender chain length variation and doping of pentaerythritol and their effect on in vitro protein adsorption

This study explores the synthesis and characterization of polyurethanes (PUs) derived from hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and 1,n-alkane diols with varying chain lengths (n = 4, 6, and 10). Additionally, pentaerythritol (PE) is introduced as a dopant in PU6 at different weight percentages (25%, 50%, 75%, and 1:1%w/w). The research encompasses a comprehensive analysis of PU properties, including morphology, crystallinity, surface area, porosity, thermal behavior, rheological properties, and electrical conductivity. Of particular interest is the evaluation of protein adsorption capabilities employing bovine serum albumin (BSA) and fibrinogen proteins in in vitro tests. The study emphasizes the crucial role played by the chain length between isocyanate and diol groups and the nature and strength of hydrogen bonds among chains in shaping the polymer's properties, especially crystallinity and biocompatibility. Among the synthesized PUs, PU6 emerges as the top performer in terms of crystallinity and biocompatibility. Furthermore, the addition of PE is found to act as a plasticizer, reducing the glass transition temperature (T_g) from 75°C to 31°C. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy shows that doping influences charge transfer processes, rendering the material semi-conducting, as evidenced by decreased conductance when adding silver nanoparticles to PU6. Notably, protein adsorption studies reveal that undoped PU6 displays superior protein resistance compared to its doped counterpart, with fibrinogen exhibiting a higher adsorption affinity than BSA. The study discusses a plausible mechanism underlying protein adsorption.     

Ultrasound‐induced nucleation in microcellular polymers

In this study, microcellular Acrylonitrile–Butadiene–Styrene foams with high cell density and expansion ratio has been manufactured using ultrasound‐induced nucleation technique in solid‐state batch foaming process. Influence of sonication time, sonication frequency, and ultrasound power were found very crucial in designing of cellular morphology. The initial 10 s of ultrasound exposure was found to influence the foam morphology critically. Longer periods of ultrasound exposure developed foams with lower average cell size as compared to foams developed with lesser ultrasound exposure time. Higher sonication power resulted in foams with uniform morphology and higher cell densities as compared to foams developed with lower sonication intensities. Finally, the ultrasonic frequency was also found to influence the morphology intensely. Low frequency sonication resulted in foams with uniform cell distribution, whereas high frequency sonication developed bimodal microcellular type of microstructure. The results coherently demonstrate that with the advent of ultrasonic waves, the energy barrier for cell nucleation swiftly decreases which enhances the cell density in the final foamed product. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40742.     

Recent advances on the neuroprotective potential of antioxidants in experimental models of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD), a neurodegenerative movement disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) is characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta region of the midbrain. Although the etiology of PD is not completely understood and is believed to be multifactorial, oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are widely considered major consequences, which provide important clues to the disease mechanisms. Studies have explored the role of free radicals and oxidative stress that contributes to the cascade of events leading to dopamine cell degeneration in PD. In general, in-built protective mechanisms consisting of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in the CNS play decisive roles in preventing neuronal cell loss due to free radicals. But the ability to produce these antioxidants decreases with aging. Therefore, antioxidant therapy alone or in combination with current treatment methods may represent an attractive strategy for treating or preventing the neurodegeneration seen in PD. Here we summarize the recent discoveries of potential antioxidant compounds for modulating free radical mediated oxidative stress leading to neurotoxicity in PD.     

Comparative assessment of III–V heterostructure and silicon underlap double gate MOSFETs

Comparative assessment of III?CV heterostructure and silicon underlap DG-MOSFETs, is done using 2D Sentaurus TCAD simulation. III?CV heterostructure device has narrow-band In_0.53Ga_0.47As and wide-band InP layers for body, and high-K gate dielectric. Density gradient model is used for simulation and interface traps are considered. Benchmarking of simulation results show that III?CV device provides higher on current, lesser delay, lower energy-delay product and lower DIBL than silicon device. However III?CV device has higher SS and lower I _on/I _off than silicon device. The results indicate that there is a need to optimize the I _on/I _off, SS and DIBL values for specific circuits.     

High molecular weight poly (L‐lactic acid) clay nanocomposites via solid‐state polymerization

We propose here, a novel technique to synthesize high molecular weight (MW) poly (L ‐lactic acid)‐clay nanocomposite (PLACN), via solid state polymerization (SSP). We synthesize prepolymer of PLACN (pre‐PLACN) from both, L ‐lactic acid and L ‐lactide, as starting materials. Synthesis of pre‐PLACN from L ‐lactic acid is carried out via in situ melt polycondensation (MP) of L ‐lactic acid oligomer, followed by SSP, to achieve high MW PLACN (M_w ∼ 138,000 Da). In case of L ‐lactide as the starting material, we prepare L ‐lactide–clay intercalated mixture which yields moderate MW pre‐PLACN during subsequent ring opening polymerization (ROP). Interestingly, ROP is performed by using hydroxyl functionalized ternary catalyst system (L ‐lactide–Sn(II) octoate–oligo (L‐lactic acid) complex), which provides the terminal hydroxyl end‐groups, required for step‐growth SSP. Pre‐PLACN MW is now increased to M_w ∼ 127,000 Da, by the subsequent SSP process. ¹H NMR analyses confirm that these end‐groups, are indeed consumed during SSP. During SSP, the PLACN also achieves up to 90% crystallinity, which may be due to the synchronization of the slow step‐growth SSP of poly(L ‐lactic acid) (PLA) with the crystallization kinetics. Optical purity of PLACNs is similar to that of neat PLA, whereas the thermal stability of PLACNs is significantly superior. As evidenced by wide‐angle X‐ray scattering/small‐angle X‐ray scattering analyses and in line with the literature, both, intercalated and exfoliated PLACN morphologies, have been synthesized, by suitable selection of clays. We also verify the correlation between the PLA semicrystalline morphology and the PLACN morphology, which is consistent with those of PLACN synthesized by other techniques. POLYM. COMPOS., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

A method for detection and classification of events in neural activity

We present a method for the real time prediction of punctuate events in neural activity, based on the time-frequency spectrum of the signal, applicable both to continuous processes like local field potentials (LFPs) as well as to spike trains. We test it on recordings of LFP and spiking activity acquired previously from the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of macaque monkeys performing a memory-saccade task. In contrast to earlier work, where trials with known start times were classified, our method detects and classifies trials directly from the data. It provides a means to quantitatively compare and contrast the content of LFP signals and spike trains: we find that the detector performance based on the LFP matches the performance based on spike rates. The method should find application in the development of neural prosthetics based on the LFP signal. Our approach uses a new feature vector, which we call the 2d cepstrum.