The structure of crystalline polyethylene sulphide — a laser Raman study

That polyethylene sulphide crystallizes in lamellar units within spherulites, has been presumed. In this paper further evidence for lamellae from Raman spectroscopy is presented and discussed. Thickening of the lamellae betweenT _M-90 andT _M-15 is also demonstrated.     

Structure and properties of linear polyethylene crystallized by rapid cooling of melts: 3. The effect of shear

This paper investigates the relationship between the mechanical performance of an injection moulded product and the flow and temperature characteristics within the mould during manufacture. This has been achieved by devising a laboratory experiment involving production of a thin moulded rod. We have shown that the modulus in linear polyethylene is anomalously high when the polymer melt is rapidly solidified whilst being exposed to a high shear gradient. We have related this observation to the morphology of the solid product.     

WebFindIt: an architecture and system for querying Web databases

The Web offers a single user interface to data sharing across heterogeneous and autonomous databases, but it was not designed to handle the rigid DBMS protocols and data formats used by relational and object-oriented databases. WebFindIt is an ongoing project to develop the database equivalent of the World Wide Web-namely, a World Wide Database-through a middleware infrastructure for describing, locating, and accessing data from any kind of Web-accessible database. A special-purpose language, Web-Tassili, supports the definition and manipulation of middleware constructs for organizing the information space. An implementation of WebFindIt combines Java, CORBA and database technologies     

Application of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces to a Minimization Problem with Prescribed Nodes

The theory of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces is applied to a minimization problem with prescribed nodes. We re-prove and generalize some results previously obtained by Gunawan et al. [2,3], and also discuss the Hölder continuity of the solution to the problem.     

Polydopamine as an intermediate layer for silver and hydroxyapatite immobilisation on metallic biomaterials surface

Hydroxyapatite (HA) coated implant is more susceptible to bacterial infection as the micro-structure surface which is beneficial for osseointegration, could also become a reservoir for bacterial colonisation. The aim of this study was to introduce the antibacterial effect of silver (Ag) to the biomineralised HA by utilising a polydopamine film as an intermediate layer for Ag and HA immobilisation. Sufficient catechol groups in polydopamine were required to bind chemically stainless steel 316 L, Ag and HA elements. Different amounts of Ag nanoparticles were metallised on the polydopamine grafted stainless steel by varying the immersion time in silver nitrate solution from 12 to 24 h. Another polydopamine layer was then formed on the metallised film, followed by surface biomineralisation in 1.5 Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) solution for 3 days. Several characterisation techniques including X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Contact Angle showed that Ag nanoparticles and HA agglomerations were successfully immobilised on the polydopamine film through an element reduction process. The Ag metallisation at 24 h has killed the viable bacteria with 97.88% of bactericidal ratio. The Ag was ionised up to 7 days which is crucial to prevent bacterial infection during the first stage of implant restoration. The aged functionalised films were considered stable due to less alteration of its chemical composition, surface roughness and wettability properties. The ability of the functionalised film to coat complex and micro scale metal make it suitable for dental and orthopaedic implants application.     

Development of 2-axis hybrid positioning system for precision contouring on micro-milling operation

A 2-axis hybrid positioning system was developed for precision contouring on micro-milling operation. The system was developed to overcome the micro-positioning limitations of conventional linear stage positioning system on machine tools. A 2-axis flexure hinge type piezoelectric stage was added on a standard milling machine to obtain better machining results. The control method used for the hybrid system was active error compensation type, where errors from linear stages are cancelled by the piezoelectric stage motion. Positioning experiments showed an improvement of machine accuracy which was confirmed by the machining results. A micro-pillar was fabricated for the validation of long-range and high-precision contouring capability. The system was successfully implemented on micro-milling machining to achieve high-precision machining results.     

Bioactive compounds, antioxidant, xanthine oxidase inhibitory, tyrosinase inhibitory and anti-inflammatory activities of selected agro-industrial by-products

Evaluation of abundantly available agro-industrial by-products for their bioactive compounds and biological activities is beneficial in particular for the food and pharmaceutical industries. In this study, rapeseed meal, cottonseed meal and soybean meal were investigated for the presence of bioactive compounds and antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, xanthine oxidase and tyrosinase inhibitory activities. Methanolic extracts of rapeseed meal showed significantly (P < 0.01) higher phenolics and flavonoids contents; and significantly (P < 0.01) higher DPPH and nitric oxide free radical scavenging activities when compared to that of cottonseed meal and soybean meal extracts. Ferric thiocyanate and thiobarbituric acid tests results showed rapeseed meal with the highest antioxidant activity (P < 0.01) followed by BHT, cotton seed meal and soybean meal. Rapeseed meal extract in xanthine oxidase and tyrosinase inhibitory assays showed the lowest IC(50) values followed by cottonseed and soybean meals. Anti-inflammatory assay using IFN-γ/LPS stimulated RAW 264.7 cells indicated rapeseed meal is a potent source of anti-inflammatory agent. Correlation analysis showed that phenolics and flavonoids were highly correlated to both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Rapeseed meal was found to be promising as a natural source of bioactive compounds with high antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, xanthine oxidase and tyrosinase inhibitory activities in contrast to cotton and soybean meals.     

Determination of the total unsaturation in oils and margarines by fourier transform raman spectroscopy

An improved Raman spectroscopic procedure for the determination of the total unsaturation in oils and fats using Fourier Transform Raman (FT-Raman) spectroscopy is described. An important advantage of FT-Raman for these samples is that the spectra are fluorescence-free unlike dispersive Raman which often uses visible excitation. Samples can be analyzed without any pre-treatment thus eliminating the need for dissolution in toxic solvents. The short acquisition time of FT-Raman and the ease of application allowed for a rapid sample turnover.