Mass transfer in polycrystalline ytterbium monosilicate under oxygen potential gradients at high temperatures

Mass transfer in polycrystalline Yb₂SiO₅ wafers with precise composition control was evaluated and analyzed by oxygen permeation experiments at high temperatures using an oxygen tracer. Oxygen permeation proceeded due to mutual grain boundary diffusion of oxide ions and Yb ions without synergistic effects such as acceleration or suppression. The oxygen shielding properties of Yb₂SiO₅ were compared with those of the other line compounds such as Yb₂Si₂O₇ and Al₂O₃ based on the determined mass transfer parameters. It was found that the more preferentially an oxide ion diffuses in the grain boundary compared to the interior of the grain, the greater the effect of suppressing the movement of the oxide ion by applying an oxygen potential gradient becomes.     

Psoriasis and Gut Microbiome—Current State of Art

Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory disease that affects around 125 million people worldwide. Several studies concerning the gut microbiota composition and its role in disease pathogenesis recently demonstrated significant alterations among psoriatic patients. Certain parameters such as Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio or Psoriasis Microbiome Index were developed in order to distinguish between psoriatic and healthy individuals. The “leaky gut syndrome” and bacterial translocation is considered by some authors as a triggering factor for the onset of the disease, as it promotes chronic systemic inflammation. The alterations were also found to resemble those in inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity and certain cardiovascular diseases. Microbiota dysbiosis, depletion in SCFAs production, increased amount of produced TMAO, dysregulation of the pathways affecting the balance between lymphocytes populations seem to be the most significant findings concerning gut physiology in psoriatic patients. The gut microbiota may serve as a potential response-to-treatment biomarker in certain cases of biological treatment. Oral probiotics administration as well as fecal microbial transplantation were most reported in bringing health benefits to psoriatic patients. However, the issue of psoriatic bacterial gut composition, its role and healing potential needs further investigation. Here we reviewed the literature on the current state of the relationship between psoriasis and gut microbiome.     

Manual dexterity of older Mexican American adults: a cross-sectional pilot experimental investigation

This paper reports results from an experimental pilot study performed to quantify the manual dexterity of older Mexican American adults. The Purdue pegboard test, a two-arm coordination test, and a hand-tool dexterity test were used in this study. To enable cross-sectional comparisons of manual dexterity measures of older Mexican American adults with young Mexican American adults, these tests were administered to 18 older Mexican American adults aged 63–85 (mean age: 71.3 years, SD: 7.0 years), recruited from senior recreation centers in El Paso, and eighteen young adults aged 21–32 (mean age: 25.6 years, SD: 3.8 years) recruited from the student body at the University of Texas at El Paso. For the Purdue pegboard test, the number of pegs placed in 30 s using the preferred hand, the non-preferred hand, and both hands were first individually monitored. Then, scores on an assembly task using the Purdue pegboard were obtained. For the two-arm coordination test, participants were required to trace a star pattern with a stylus using both hands. The time for task completion and the number of errors made during task performance were monitored. For the hand-tool dexterity test, participants were required to use common hand tools and remove nuts and bolts from one side of a wooden upright, and to assemble nuts and bolts in the corresponding holes on the other side of the upright. The time taken for task completion was recorded. Since modified Levene's test showed equality of variances, two sample t-tests, comparing the mean responses of older adults with the mean responses of young adults for each individual test, were conducted. Results indicate that responses for the older adults were statistically significant different (p<0.001) from young adults for all Purdue pegboard tasks. On the average, older adults performed significantly slower (p<0.001) than young adults on the two-arm coordination test, and committed more errors before task completion (p<0.05). Older adults also took longer to complete the hand-tool dexterity task compared to their younger counterparts (p<0.05). In addition to the t-tests, manual dexterity performance measures from older adults were regressed with age to determine the cross-sectional age effects on manual dexterity measures. Results indicate that all Purdue pegboard performance measures were significantly affected by age (p<0.05). The time to complete the two-arm coordination test was significantly linearly related to age (p<0.05). However, the number of errors committed by older adults in the performance of the two-arm coordination test was not significantly linearly related to age. Time to complete the hand-tool dexterity was also significantly linearly related to age (p<0.05). Accommodating age-related changes in manual dexterity is important for job design in industry, especially in industries employing older adults requiring significant assembly and hand-tool use.

Relevance to industry

Given the aging of the industrial workforce, it is important to understand how manual dexterity is affected by age, so that jobs requiring significant manual dexterity for task initiation, task performance and task completion are designed to fit older adult dexterity levels.     

Production of Ceramic Green Bodies Using a Microwave-Reactive Organic Binder

Because the pyrolysis of organic substances can result in the emission of harmful pollutant gases, a reduction in the use of organic binders is one aim of today's ceramics industry. A novel ceramic-forming process was developed that requires considerably less organic binder than conventional techniques. The process involves immobilizing reactive molecules on the surfaces of the particles, which on subsequent irradiation with microwaves, form bridges that bind the entire particle assembly together. The chemical forces involved produce strong bonds, resulting in a significant reduction in the amount of organic binder that is required to maintain the shape of the ceramic green body. This method will help to decrease emissions of harmful gases produced from pyrolysis of the binder.     

Network formation and swelling behavior of photosensitive poly(vinyl alcohol) gels prepared by photogenerated crosslinking

Poly (vinyl alcohol) with pendent styrylpyridinium groups (SbQ) is insolubilized by photoirradiation. An association takes place in SbQ groups. The association of polymer chains becomes marked with increasing the number of SbQ groups. Mainly intermolecular crosslinks were formed. Transparent and homogeneous macrogels consisting of several intermolecular crosslinks are obtained. The proportion of the free water to the bound water in PVA-SbQ gels was 3.3?2.9 despite of the large change in conversion of photodimerization of SbQ groups, x=0.27?0.58. The water uptake after swelling of the gels in water increased 6–27 times compared to the original weight at pH=7. The higher the degree of photocrosslinking, the lower was the degree of swelling. The water diffusion coefficients, D, were (2.2?5.8) × 10^?5 cm² S^?1 for a 88% saponified PVA with 1 . 3 mol% SbQ groups. The volume of the gel increased discontinuously about 10-fold for the 99% saponified PVA with 0 . 096 mol% SbQ and 51% water (49% acetone). The acetone concentration at the transition decreased with increasing the degree of saponification of the PVA.     

Molecular motions of non-crystalline poly(aryl ether-ether-ketone) PEEK and influence of elecron beam irradiation

The dynamic mechanical relaxation of non-crystalline poly(aryl ether-ether-ketone) PEEK and the one irradiated with electron beam were studied. The three distinct γ, β, α′ relaxation maxima were observed in unirradiated PEEK from low to high temperature. It was revealed from the study on the irradiation effects that three different molecular processes are overlapped in γ relaxation peak, i.e., molecular motion of water bound to main chain (peak temperature; at ?100°C), local motion of main chain (at ?80°C), and local mode of the aligned and/or oriented moiety (at ?40°C). The β relaxation connected with the glass transition occurred at 150°C and it shifted to higher temperature by irradiation. The α′ relaxation which can be attributed to rearrangement of molecular chain due to crystallization was observed in unirradiated PEEK ～ 180°C and its magnitude decreased with the increase in irradiation dose. This effect indicates the formation of structures inhibiting crystallization such as crosslinking and/or short branching during irradiation. A new relaxation, β′, appeared in the temperature range of 40° to 100°C by irradiation and its magnitude increased with dose. This relaxation was attributed to rearrangement of molecular chain from loosened packing around chain ends, which were introduced into the non-crystalline region by chain scission under irradiation, to more rigid molecular packing, From these observations, we proposed that deterioration in mechanical properties of non-crystalline PEEK by high energy electron beam was brought about not only by chain scission but structural changes such as crosslinking and/or branching in the main chain.     

Experimental design to evaluate properties of electrospun fibers of zein/poly (ethylene oxide) for biomaterial applications

The production of polymer fibers from the combination of zein and PEO might have great potential in the field of biomaterial. Zein/PEO fibers were obtained in this work through solution electrospinning. An experimental design, 2^4-1, was used for evaluating the influences of PEO content in the blend, distance from the needle tip to the collector, applied electric voltage and solution flow for average fiber diameter and relative-yield process. Beyond this, the relationship between PEO content in the blend and the fiber properties were evaluated through FTIR, DSC, TG, tensile tests, and cytotoxic tests. The factor that exerts the greatest effect on the average fiber diameter response was the electrical voltage. The increase in PEO content in the blend decreased the thermal stability and increased the degree of the fibers' crystallinity. The mechanical tests showed that fibers with higher elongation were obtained at richer PEO blends. The fibers presented cytocompatible characteristics.     

When a Tritrophic Interaction Goes Wrong to the Third Level: Xanthoxylin From Trees Causes the Honeybee Larval Mortality in Colonies Affected by the River Disease

The “River Disease” (RD), a disorder impacting honeybee colonies located close to waterways with abundant riparian vegetation (including Sebastiania schottiana, Euphorbiaceae), kills newly hatched larvae. Forager bees from RD-affected colonies collect honeydew excretions from Epormenis cestri (Hemiptera: Flatidae), a planthopper feeding on trees of S. schottiana. First-instar honeybee larvae fed with this honeydew died. Thus, we postulated that the nectars of RD-affected colonies had a natural toxin coming from either E. cestri or S. schottiana. An untargeted metabolomics characterization of fresh nectars extracts from colonies with and without RD allowed to pinpoint xanthoxylin as one of the chemicals present in higher amounts in nectar from RD-affected colonies than in nectars from healthy colonies. Besides, xanthoxylin was also found in the aerial parts of S. schottiana and the honeydew excreted by E. cestri feeding on this tree. A larva feeding assay where xanthoxylin-enriched diets were offered to 1^st instar larvae showed that larvae died in the same proportion as larvae did when offered enriched diets with nectars from RD-colonies. These findings demonstrate that a xenobiotic can mimic the RD syndrome in honeybee larvae and provide evidence of an interspecific flow of xanthoxylin among three trophic levels. Further, our results give information that can be considered when implementing measures to control this honeybee disease.

     

Influence of chromium on the local structure and morphology of ferric oxyhydroxides

The extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) method and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been used for characterizing the local structure and morphology of ferric oxyhydroxides, α-FeOOH and γ-FeOOH, with and without chromium. These ferric oxyhydroxide powders were prepared from aqueous solutions containing iron and chromium ions. Radial structural functions for iron obtained by Fe K edge EXAFS spectra showed that the linkage of structural units formed by FeO₆ octahedra in γ-FeOOH is distorted by chromium addition, while such distortion in α-FeOOH is not clearly detected. On the other hand, Cr K edge EXAFS spectra showed that the local structure around chromium does not necessarily correspond to the local structure around of iron, which is observed by Fe K edge EXAFS spectra. This suggests that the structural units containing iron and chromium are heterogeneously distributed in these ferric oxyhydroxides. The local structural information was discussed coupled with morphological features of these ferric oxyhydroxides observed by TEM.