Proposition of a New Severity Analysis Based on ‘Shake’ Detection: Example of the Vatry Airport Tarmac

In packaging science, the study of transport is important in determining the viability of a package/product pair. Many load breaks occur (e.g. handling and storage) along a supply chain. Transport also generates various physical stresses (e.g. shocks, shakes and vibrations). These physical phenomena can be recorded using a variety of customized sensors (e.g. tri‐axial accelerometers, temperature sensors and pressure sensors). This study focuses on a transport phase that has not been studied in depth to date. Transportation operations on tarmacs include many handling and transportation machines, which are characterized by typical constraints that are often more stringent than airlift phase constraints. For comparison, acceleration distributions were estimated and analysed for the tarmac phase and road phase. Severity indicators were calculated based on existing methods. The second part of this study addresses the study of shakes. The shake distributions at 90 and 95% were another indicator of the shakes' severity and probability of occurrence. These elements allow us to characterize the impact of the tarmac area during air transport.     

Microfluidic Spinning of Cell‐Responsive Grooved Microfibers

Engineering living tissues that simulate their natural counterparts is a dynamic area of research. Among the various models of biological tissues being developed, fiber‐shaped cellular architectures, which can be used as artificial blood vessels or muscle fibers, have drawn particular attention. However, the fabrication of continuous microfiber substrates for culturing cells is still limited to a restricted number of polymers (e.g., alginate) having easy processability but poor cell–material interaction properties. Moreover, the typical smooth surface of a synthetic fiber does not replicate the micro‐ and nanofeatures observed in vivo, which guide and regulate cell behavior. In this study, a method to fabricate photocrosslinkable cell‐responsive methacrylamide‐modified gelatin (GelMA) fibers with exquisite microstructured surfaces by using a microfluidic device is developed. These hydrogel fibers with microgrooved surfaces efficiently promote cell encapsulation and adhesion. GelMA fibers significantly promote the viability of cells encapsulated in/or grown on the fibers compared with similar grooved alginate fibers used as controls. Importantly, the grooves engraved on the GelMA fibers induce cell alignment. Furthermore, the GelMA fibers exhibit excellent processability and could be wound into various shapes. These microstructured GelMA fibers have great potential as templates for the creation of fiber‐shaped tissues or tissue microstructures.     

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of the Flexible Iron-based MIL-88B Metal–Organic Framework for Advanced Energetic Systems

The 3D metal–organic framework (MOF), MIL-88B, built from the trivalent metal ions and the ditopic 1,4-Benzene dicarboxylic acid linker (H₂BDC), distinguishes itself from the other MOFs for its flexibility and high thermal stability. MIL-88B was synthesized by a rapid microwave-assisted solvothermal method at high power (850 W). The iron-based MIL-88B [Fe₃.O.Cl.(O₂C–C₆H₄–CO₂)₃] exposed oxygen and iron content of 29% and 24%, respectively, which offers unique properties as an oxygen-rich catalyst for energetic systems. Upon dispersion in an organic solvent and integration into ammonium perchlorate (AP) (the universal oxidizer for energetic systems), the dispersion of the MOF particles into the AP energetic matrix was uniform (investigated via elemental mapping using an EDX detector). Therefore, MIL-88B(Fe) could probe AP decomposition with the exclusive formation of mono-dispersed Fe₂O₃ nanocatalyst during the AP decomposition. The evolved nanocatalyst can offer superior combustion characteristics. XRD pattern for the MIL-88B(Fe) framework TGA residuals confirmed the formation of α-Fe₂O₃ nanocatalyst as a final product. The catalytic efficiency of MIL-88B(Fe) on AP thermal behavior was assessed via DSC and TGA. AP solely demonstrated a decomposition enthalpy of 733 J g^?1, while AP/MIL-88B(Fe) showed a 66% higher decomposition enthalpy of 1218 J g^?1; the main exothermic decomposition temperature was decreased by 71 °C. Besides, MIL-88B(Fe) resulted in a decrease in AP decomposition activation energy by 23% and 25% using Kissinger and Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS) models, respectively.

     

Mineral Fillers in Intumescent Fire Retardant Formulations — Criteria for the Choice of a Natural Clay Filler for the Ammonium Polyphosphate/Pentaerythritol/Polypropylene System

Addition of natural clay materials in intumescent polypropylene-based formulations (additive: ammonium polyphosphate and pentaerythritol) leads either to a decrease or to an increase of their fire retardant performances versus the chemical or the physical characteristics of the clay materials. A study of the factors affecting these performances has been carried out using linear and principal components analysis. This analysis shows that the results of the evaluation tests (LOI and UL 94) are affected in different ways by the adduct of the different clay material and that an increase in the LOI is not necessarily related to an increase in the UL 94 classification. LOI values are improved by the presence of the montmorillonite and of illite clay minerals which may react with acidic phosphate to form active carbonization catelysts, in addition, the results of the LOI test are improved by the presence of quartz and other foreign minerals in the clay materials. This study discusses the part played by the different constitutive minerals in the formation of defects in the polymer chain during the mixing process. It is proposed that the presence of these defects leads to a change in fire retardant performance.     

A Toxoplasma gondii Oxopurine Transporter Binds Nucleobases and Nucleosides Using Different Binding Modes

Toxoplasma gondii is unable to synthesize purines de novo, instead salvages them from its environment, inside the host cell, for which they need high affinity carriers. Here, we report the expression of a T. gondii Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter, Tg244440, in a Trypanosoma brucei strain from which nucleobase transporters have been deleted. Tg244440 transported hypoxanthine and guanine with similar affinity (K_m ~1 µM), while inosine and guanosine displayed K_i values of 4.05 and 3.30 µM, respectively. Low affinity was observed for adenosine, adenine, and pyrimidines, classifying Tg244440 as a high affinity oxopurine transporter. Purine analogues were used to probe the substrate-transporter binding interactions, culminating in quantitative models showing different binding modes for oxopurine bases, oxopurine nucleosides, and adenosine. Hypoxanthine and guanine interacted through protonated N1 and N9, and through unprotonated N3 and N7 of the purine ring, whereas inosine and guanosine mostly employed the ribose hydroxy groups for binding, in addition to N1H of the nucleobase. Conversely, the ribose moiety of adenosine barely made any contribution to binding. Tg244440 is the first gene identified to encode a high affinity oxopurine transporter in T. gondii and, to the best of our knowledge, the first purine transporter to employ different binding modes for nucleosides and nucleobases.     

Engineered Neutral Phosphorous Dendrimers Protect Mouse Cortical Neurons and Brain Organoids from Excitotoxic Death

Nanoparticles are playing an increasing role in biomedical applications. Excitotoxicity plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. Glutamate ionotropic receptors, mainly those activated by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), play a key role in excitotoxic death by increasing intraneuronal calcium levels; triggering mitochondrial potential collapse; increasing free radicals; activating caspases 3, 9, and 12; and inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress. Neutral phosphorous dendrimers, acting intracellularly, have neuroprotective actions by interfering with NMDA-mediated excitotoxic mechanisms in rat cortical neurons. In addition, phosphorous dendrimers can access neurons inside human brain organoids, complex tridimensional structures that replicate a significant number of properties of the human brain, to interfere with NMDA-induced mechanisms of neuronal death. Phosphorous dendrimers are one of the few nanoparticles able to gain access to the inside of neurons, both in primary cultures and in brain organoids, and to exert pharmacological actions by themselves.     

Specific populations of the yeast Geotrichum candidum revealed by molecular typing

Geotrichum candidum is a ubiquitous yeast and an essential component in the production of many soft cheeses. We developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme with five retained loci (NUP116, URA1, URA3, SAPT4 and PLB3) which were sufficiently divergent to distinguish 40 sequence types (STs) among the 67 G. candidum strains tested. Phylogenetic analyses defined five main clades; one clade was restricted to environmental isolates, three other clades included distinct environmental isolates and dairy strains, while the fifth clade comprised 34 strains (13 STs), among which all but two were isolated from milk, cheese or the dairy environment. These findings suggest an adaptation to the dairy ecosystems by a group of specialized European G. candidum strains. In addition, we developed a polymerase chain reaction inter‐long terminal repeat scheme, a fast and reproducible random amplification of polymorphic DNA‐like method for G. candidum, to type the closely related dairy strains, which could not be distinguished by MLST. Overall, our findings distinguished two types of dairy strains, one forming a homogeneous group with little genetic diversity, and the other more closely related to environmental isolates. Neither regional nor cheese specificity was observed in the dairy G. candidum strains analysed. This present study sheds light on the genetic diversity of both dairy and environmental strains of G. candidum and thus extends previous characterizations that have focused on the cheese isolates of this species. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of soaking of whole, dehulled and ground millet and soybean seeds on phytate degradation and Phy/Fe and Phy/Zn molar ratios

The degradation and leaching of phytates, phytase activity and iron and zinc concentrations have been studied after soaking of whole seeds, dehulled seeds and flours of millet and soybean, in order to investigate the efficiency of soaking on reducing Phy/Fe and Phy/Zn molar ratios. When using millet grains, dehulling and milling before soaking facilitated the leaching of phytates and phytases in the aqueous medium and hence phytate degradation. Dehulling of soybean seeds led to a marked increase in phytate content, whereas milling favoured reactions between phytases and phytates. The Phy/Fe and Phy/Zn molar ratios decreased only slightly during soaking. The highest decreases for millet were obtained after soaking of flour for 8 h (Phy/Fe: 10.8–7.7 and Phy/Zn: 20.3–15.1), and after soaking of whole seeds for 24 h for soybean (Phy/Fe: 10.4–9.4 and Phy/Zn: 23.8–19.1). Cooking of flours with water used for soaking did not increase phytate degradation.     

Agarose-based hydrogel as an electrografting cell

An agarose gel was used as an electrochemical cell to graft vinylic polymer layers on conductive surfaces by electro-initiated radical electrografting of various water-soluble and hydrophobic vinylic monomers in the presence of diazonium ions. The process was followed by in situ electrochemical measurements and the resulting grafted layer was characterized by infrared (IRRAS) and photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopy. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.