Detection of Pinosylvins in Solid Wood of Scots Pine Using Fourier Transform Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared (DRIFT) and near infrared (NIR) FT-Raman spectroscopy were used to detect pinosylvins in the wood of Pinus sylvestris L. trees. NIR FT-Raman spectroscopy offered the possibility of revealing pinosylvins simply by visual inspection of Raman spectra whereas DRIFT spectra needed a more complicated evaluation. Pinosylvin and resin acids from Scots pine were examined as to the possibility of their being the cause of observed spectral differences between sapwood and heartwood. Since pinosylvins are important compounds for the decay resistance of Scots pine wood, the detection of pinosylvins with Raman spectroscopy might be used to assess durability of wood products.     

Strain‐induced deformation mechanisms of polylactide plasticized with acrylated poly(ethylene glycol) obtained by reactive extrusion

This work aimed at identifying the tensile deformation mechanisms of an original grade of plasticized polylactide (pPLA) obtained by reactive extrusion. This material had a glass transition temperature of 32.6 °C and consisted of a polylactide (PLA) matrix grafted with poly(acryl‐poly(ethylene glycol)) (poly(Acryl‐PEG)) inclusions. pPLA behaved like a rubber‐toughened amorphous polymer at 20 °C, and its tensile behavior evolved toward a rubbery semicrystalline polymer with increasing temperature. The drawing of pPLA involved orientation of amorphous and crystalline chains, crystallization, and destruction of crystals. It was found that crystal formation and crystal destruction were in competition below 50 °C, resulting in a constant or slightly decreasing crystallinity with strain. Increasing temperature enhanced crystal formation and limited crystal destruction, resulting in an increased crystallinity with the strain level. Drawing yielded a transformation of the initial spherical poly(Acryl‐PEG) inclusions into ellipsoids oriented in the tensile direction. This mechanism may engender the formation of nanovoids within the inclusions due to a decreased density, assumed to be responsible for the whitening of the specimen. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effects of orally administered yeast‐derived beta‐glucans: A review

Yeast‐derived beta‐glucans (Y‐BG) are considered immunomodulatory compounds suggested to enhance the defense against infections and exert anticarcinogenic effects. Specific preparations have received Generally Recognized as Safe status and acceptance as novel food ingredients by European Food Safety Authority. In human trials, orally administered Y‐BG significantly reduced the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections in individuals susceptible to upper respiratory tract infections, whereas significant differences were not seen in healthy individuals. Increased salivary IgA in healthy individuals, increased IL‐10 levels in obese subjects, beneficial changes in immunological parameters in allergic patients, and activated monocytes in cancer patients have been reported following Y‐BG intake. The studies were conducted with different doses (7.5–1500 mg/day), using different preparations that vary in their primary structure, molecular weight, and solubility. In animal models, oral Y‐BG have reduced the incidence of bacterial infections and levels of stress‐induced cytokines and enhanced antineoplastic effects of cytotoxic agents. Protective effects toward drug intoxication and ischemia/reperfusion injury have also been reported. In conclusion, additional studies following good clinical practice principles are needed in which well‐defined Y‐BG preparations are used and immune markers and disease endpoints are assessed. Since optimal dosing may depend on preparation characteristics, dose‐response curves might be assessed to find the optimal dose for a specific preparation.     

Estimation of the daily global solar radiation; Nepal experience

This work focuses on estimation of global solar radiation and, in particular, it explores the effect of precipitation and temperature on solar radiation profile of Kathmandu (Nepal). An accurate knowledge of solar radiation distribution in each particular geographical location is crucial for the promotion of solar energy technology. The best way of knowing the amount of global solar radiation is to install quality instruments at many locations in the given region. This requires their day to day maintenance, recording and calibration, which is very costly in developing countries like Nepal. Thus, the alternative approach is to correlate meteorological measurements with appropriate models and investigate the key parameters. For the research activities the RadEst program has been used. It includes, for evaluating the daily global solar radiation values at a given latitudes, four models which estimate the atmospheric transmissivity by measurements of daily temperature range and precipitations. The model parameters are fitted in 2 years data by iterative procedures. The values obtained by these models are, then, compared with measured radiation data. The paper reports graphical and statistical evaluations suggesting that among the four models, the Modular DCBB is the best model for Kathmandu area. This result is useful for designing solar panels able to maximize the harvesting of solar energy and to reduce the chronic shortage of hydrocarbon fuel that Nepal imports in a significant amount each year.     

Cognitive processing and posttraumatic growth after stroke.

Objective: To examine whether posttraumatic growth (PTG) after stroke is associated with cognitive processing and psychological distress and whether time since stroke moderates relationships between these variables. Method: A sample of stroke survivors (N = 60) completed the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Cognitive Processing of Trauma Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: PTG correlated positively with four indicators of cognitive processing (i.e., positive cognitive restructuring, downward comparison, resolution, and denial) and negatively with depression. Time since stroke moderated a number of these relationships. As length of time since stroke increased, the relationships between PTG and anxiety and depression became more negative and significant, and the relationships between PTG and downward comparisons and resolution became more positive and significant. Discussion: The findings indicate the possibility of PTG after stroke and suggest that cognitive processing is an important process for engendering such growth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intermediates and isomers in the substitution of cobalt carbonyl hydride with tertiary phosphorous ligands

Mono- and disubstitution of HCo(CO)₄ with tertiary phosphines and phosphites was studied by IR and¹H-NMR spectroscopy. It was found that these substitutions proceed through phosphonium tetracarbonylcobaltate intermediates, leading to a mixture of isomers. The crystal and molecular structure of trans-HCo(CO)₃[P(O-p-C₆H₄Ph)₃] was determined by X-ray diffraction.GDR research fellow at the University of Veszprém.     

Interactive fiction: Artificial intelligence as a mode of sign production

Interactive media need their own idioms that exploit the characteristics of the computer based sign. The fact that the reader can physically influence the course of events in the system changes the author's role, since he no longer creates a linear text but anarrative space that the reader can use to generate stories. Although stories are not simulations of the real world, they must still contain recognizable parts where everyday constraints of time and space hold. AI-techniques can be used to implement these constraints. In fact, we suggest that AI is probably best seen as an aesthetic phenomenon.     

In utero exposure to extra vitamin D from food fortification and the risk of subsequent development of gestational diabetes: the D-tect study

Background

The primary aim of this study was to assess whether exposure during fetal life to extra vitamin D from food fortification was associated with a reduction in the risk of subsequently developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Furthermore, we examined whether the effect of the vitamin D from fortification differed by women’s season of birth.

Methods

This semi-ecological study is based on the cancellation in 1985 of the mandatory policy to fortify margarine with vitamin D in Denmark, with inclusion of entire national adjacent birth cohorts either exposed or unexposed to extra vitamin D in utero. The identification of GDM cases later in life among both exposure groups was based on the Danish national health registers. Logistic regression analyses generating odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were performed.

Results

Women who were prenatally exposed to the extra vitamin D from fortification tended to have a lower risk of subsequently developing GDM than unexposed women (OR 0.87, 95%CI 0.74,1.02, P?=?0.08). When analyses were stratified by women’s season of birth, exposed women born in spring had a lower risk of developing GDM compared to unexposed subjects (OR 0.68, 95%CI 0.50,0.94, p?=?0.02).

Conclusion

This study suggests that prenatal exposure to extra vitamin D from mandatory fortification may lower the risk of developing gestational diabetes among spring-born women.

Trial registration

This study is part of the D-tect project, which is registered on clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03330301.

     

Degradation of polyethylene during extrusion. II. Degradation of low‐density polyethylene,linear low‐density polyethylene,and high‐density polyethylene in film extrusion

The degradation of different polyethylenes—low‐density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE), and high‐density polyethylene (HDPE)—with and without antioxidants and at different oxygen concentrations in the polymer granulates, have been studied in extrusion coating processing. The degradation was followed by online rheometry, size exclusion chromatography, surface oxidation index measurements, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The degradations start in the extruder where primary radicals are formed, which are subject to the auto‐oxidation when oxygen is present. In the extruder, crosslinking or chain scissions reactions are dominating at low and high melt temperatures, respectively, for LDPE, and chain scission is overall dominating for the more linear LLDPE and HDPE resins. Additives such as antioxidants react with primary radicals formed in the melt. Degradation taking place in the film between the die orifice, and the quenching point is mainly related to the exposure time to air oxygen. Melt temperatures above 280°C give a dominating surface oxidation, which increases with the exposure time to air between die orifice and quenching too. A number of degradation products were identified—for example, aldehydes and organic acids—which were present in homologous series. The total amount of aldehydes and acids for each number of chain carbon atoms were appeared in the order of C5>C4>C6>C7?C2 for LDPE, C5>C6>C4>C7?C2 for LLDPE, and C5>C6>C7>C4?C2 for HDPE. The total amounts of oxidized compounds presented in the films were related to the processing conditions. Polymer melts exposed to oxygen at the highest temperatures and longest times showed the presence dialdehydes, in addition to the aldehydes and acids. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 1525–1537, 2004