An artificial intelligent diagnostic system on differential recognition of hematopoietic cells from microscopic images

The endothelium participates actively in homeostatic mechanisms such as the regulation of vascular tone and maintenance of a nonthrombotic environment, as well as directing biological responses such as leukocyte trafficking to inflammatory sites. Disruption of these processes leads to disease. In the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome autoantibodies provoke the endothelium to develop a prothrombotic surface. In systemic vasculitides associated with presence of antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies, it is likely that the autoantibodies incite premature neutrophil activation, disrupted neutrophil-endothelium interactions and endothelial damage. This review considers how normal endothelial functions may be subverted in disease and how active endothelial responses may contribute to disease.     

The polar cluster like behavior in Ti substituted BaZrO3 ceramics

In this paper we report the evolution of the polar cluster like behavior with the incorporation of Ti⁴⁺ ion in BaZrO₃ Ceramics. Dielectric behavior of BaZr_xTi_(1−x)O₃ (x = 1.00, 0.95, 0.90, 0.85) ceramics is studied in the temperature range from 300 to 30 K. Polar cluster like behavior becomes more prominent with the increase in content of Ti⁴⁺ ion. The dielectric relaxation is analyzed by Vogel–Fulcher relation and Arrhenius law. Frequency dependence of dielectric constant and low loss tangent of these materials can be useful for the potential applications at low temperature.     

Improvement of flexural bond strength of zirconia-resin cement by surface patterning using sub-nanosecond UV laser

Zirconia is a dental material that shows excellent biocompatibility and high strength in clinical applications. This study aims to evaluate the effects of ultrafast laser applications. The surface nanostructures were classified into three groups. Group 1 was generated using the burst mode, with three different distances between dots: 52 µm (Group 1a), 104 µm (Group 1b), and 156 µm (Group 1c). Group 2 was processed using the scanning mode configuration, with a set of parallel lines. Group 3 was also processed using this scanning configuration creating a set of square-shaped patterning. Group 4 was the control group. After the surface treatments, a pair of zirconia specimens was bonded end to end with resin cement. Flexural bond strength (FBS) test was applied in a universal test machine. Multiple comparisons were performed using a one-way analysis of variance and the Tukey's HSD test. All the samples that were treated with the laser showed higher FBS values than the untreated surface. Using the burst mode, preformed circular-shaped surface on an angle of 90⁰ at 52 µm distance (Group 1a) showed the highest FBS values among all groups (p < .05). Groups 2 and 3 had significantly higher values than 1b and 1c.     

Interpenetrating polymer network/functionalized-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite: As an advanced functional material

In this report, smart polyurethane-polystyrene interpenetrating polymer network (IPN)-based nanocomposites were fabricated using simultaneous polymerization technique with different doses of functionalized reduced graphene oxide (f-RGO). RGO was functionalized with monoglyceride of sunflower oil in the presence of toluene diisocyanate. Successful functionalization of RGO was supported by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy analyses. Most interestingly, the fabricated IPN-based nanocomposites showed significant enhancements in mechanical (tensile strength: 165%; elongation at break: 198%; toughness: 340%) and thermal (thermally stable up to 262°C) properties upon incorporation of 1 weight% of f-RGO. Moreover, the fabricated nanocomposites exhibited outstanding chemical resistance, self-cleaning behavior through surface hydrophobicity (static contact angle: 125.6–136.5°), multi-stimuli responsive shape memory effect (100% recovery within 33–44 s by microwave and 265–308 s by sunlight) and thermally actuated artificial muscle-like behavior. Therefore, the studied smart nanocomposites with the aforementioned properties hold significant potential for possible advanced applications.     

Interpretation of MR images using self-organizing maps and knowledge-based expert systems

A new image segmentation system is presented to automatically segment and label brain magnetic resonance (MR) images to show normal and abnormal brain tissues using self-organizing maps (SOM) and knowledge-based expert systems. Elements of a feature vector are formed by image intensities, first-order features, texture features extracted from gray-level co-occurrence matrix and multiscale features. This feature vector is used as an input to the SOM. SOM is used to over segment images and a knowledge-based expert system is used to join and label the segments. Spatial distributions of segments extracted from the SOM are also considered as well as gray level properties. Segments are labeled as background, skull, white matter, gray matter, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and suspicious regions.     

Preparation and characterization of conductive polypyrrole/kaolinite composites

Conductive polypyrrole (PPy)/kaolinite clay composites were prepared by in situ chemical polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of kaolinite using FeCl₃ as oxidant. The PPy content and conductivity of the composites reached 32.8% and 8.3×10^?2 S/cm at HCl concentrations of 1.5 M and 0.5 M, respectively. The microhardness of the composites containing different amounts of PPy was higher than that of the PPy and kaolinite components. The highest microhardness observed was 30.17 kg/mm² for the composite containing 9.6% PPy. The electrical resistance of the composites was monitored during heating–cooling cycles over the range 5–120 °C. The change in resistance with temperature was more repeatable for the composite than for PPy. The composites were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The humidity-sensing properties were also examined.     

Biobased hyperbranched shape‐memory polyurethanes: Effect of different vegetable oils

Hyperbranched polyurethanes were synthesized from poly(ε‐caprolactone) diol as a macroglycol, butanediol as a chain extender, a monoglyceride of a vegetable oil (Mesua ferrea, castor, and sunflower oils separately) as a biobased chain extender, triethanolamine as a multifunctional moiety, and toluene diisocyanate by a prepolymerization technique with the A₂ + B₃ approach. The structure of the synthesized hyperbranched polyurethanes was characterized by ¹H‐NMR and X‐ray diffraction studies. M. ferrea L. seed‐oil‐based polyurethane showed the highest thermal stability, whereas the castor‐oil‐based one showed the lowest. However, the castor‐oil‐based polyurethane exhibited the highest tensile strength compared to the other vegetable‐oil‐based polyurethanes. All of the vegetable‐oil‐based polyurethanes showed good shape fixity, although the castor‐oil‐based polyurethane showed the highest shape recovery. Thus, the characteristics of the vegetable oil had a prominent role in the control of the ultimate properties, including the shape‐memory behaviors, of the hyperbranched polyurethanes. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 39579.     

Tough hyperbranched epoxy/poly(amido‐amine) modified bentonite thermosetting nanocomposites

A tough and highly flexible hyperbranched epoxy and poly(amido‐amine) modified bentonite based thermosetting nanocomposite was demonstrated. The FTIR, XRD, and TGA analyses confirmed the modification of bentonite. The formation of partially exfoliated structure of the nanocomposite with good physicochemical interactions among the hyperbranched epoxy, poly(amido‐amine) hardener and modified clay was investigated by the FTIR, XRD, SEM, and TEM analyses. Significant improvements of 750% toughness, 300% elongation at break, 50% tensile strength, 300% modulus, and 250% adhesive strength of the pristine epoxy were achieved by the formation of nanocomposites with 3 wt % of modified clay. The experimental modulus values of the nanocomposites were compared with three theoretical models to account the interactions between filler and matrix. Thus, the studied epoxy nanocomposite has great potential to be used as an advanced epoxy thermoset. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40327.     

Biodegradable and thermostable synthetic hyperbranched poly(urethane-urea)s as advanced surface coating materials

Aliphatic hyperbranched poly(urethane-urea)s with different weight percentages of branch generating moiety were synthesized by a one pot A₂ + BC₂ approach. Isophorone diisocyanate was used as the A₂ type monomer, while a tri-functional dihydroxyamine compound synthesized from ?-caprolactam and diethanol amine acted as the BC₂ monomer. Evidence supporting the hyperbranched structure of the synthesized poly(urethane-urea) was obtained from ¹H NMR spectra. FTIR study confirmed the nature and extent of hydrogen bonding present in this novel macromolecule. A Gaussian band fitting procedure of the IR band at amide-I region showed that the extent of hydrogen bonding increases with the increase of weight percentage of the tri-functional compound. The tensile strength, elongation at break, impact resistance, scratch hardness and gloss followed an increasing trend with the same. The thermal degradation of the hyperbranched poly(urethane-urea) was found to be dependent on the weight percentage of the BC₂ type moiety. The kinetics of thermal degradation studied by the Ozawa method showed that the activation energy required for thermal degradation of hyperbranched polymer is higher than its linear polyurethane analog. The synthesized polymer was found to be biodegradable by Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. The study showed superiority of the hyperbranched structure over the linear one. Thus the results indicated the potential usage of the studied hyperbranched poly(urethane-urea) as an advanced surface coating material.