The Influence of the Internet on European Journalism

This study investigates how European journalists evaluate the changes that have occurred in their profession since the Internet has been integrated in newsrooms. How do journalists perceive the features and innovations associated with the Internet? What are the principal changes in the profession? Do practitioners believe that the quality of journalism has been raised or lowered? To answer to these research questions, we carried out a survey across 11 European countries–Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden–of 239 journalists, working for 40 of the most‐read print/online news outlets in these countries. The survey shows that the opportunity to use the Internet to reinforce the social functions of journalism has not been fully recognised.     

Joint Estimation of Location and Scatter in Complex Elliptically Symmetric Distributions

The joint estimation of the location vector and the shape matrix of a set of independent and identically Complex Elliptically Symmetric (CES) distributed observations is investigated from both the theoretical and computational viewpoints. This joint estimation problem is framed in the original context of semiparametric models allowing us to handle the (generally unknown) density generator as an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter. In the first part of the paper, a computationally efficient and memory saving implementation of the robust and semiparmaetric efficient R-estimator for shape matrices is derived. Building upon this result, in the second part, a joint estimator, relying on the Tyler’s M-estimator of location and on the R-estimator of shape matrix, is proposed and its Mean Squared Error (MSE) performance compared with the Semiparametric Cramér-Rao Bound (SCRB).

     

Sustainable control strategies for plant protection and food packaging sectors by natural substances and novel nanotechnological approaches

An overview is provided of the current technological strategies (also at the nanoscale level) recently involved in plant and/or food protection. In addition, the potential use of natural and sustainable substances, instead of traditional synthesized molecules or chemical-based compounds, is addressed both with respect to packaging systems and novel pesticide formulations. In this context, nanotechnological approaches represent promising strategies for the entire agriculture industry chain, from the field to consumers. Traditional plant protection strategies are often insufficient and the application of chemical-based pesticides has negative effects on animals, humans and the environment. Novel greener tools could represent efficient alternatives for the management of plant diseases using promising strategies; the use of nanotechnologies allows the promotion of the more efficient assembly and subsequent release of environmentally sustainable active principles, limiting the use of chemicals in terms of economic losses. At the same time, new sustainable, antimicrobial and antioxidant systems have been rapidly promoted and investigated in the food packaging sector as a valid eco-friendly possibility for improving the safety and quality of food products and reducing and/or limiting the environmental impact with respect to traditional materials. Together, the scientific community and the growing interest of consumers have promoted the development of new edible and eco-friendly packaging that reduces waste and any environmental impact. In this context, the aim is to provide evidence of the usefulness of strategies aiming to limit agrochemicals, as well as the potential of nanomaterials, in sustainable plant and food protection for agriculture management and the packaging sector. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Development and characterization of bionanocomposites based on poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) and cellulose nanocrystals for packaging applications

Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)‐based bionanocomposites were prepared using various percentages of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) by a solution casting method. CNCs were prepared from microcrystalline cellulose using sulfuric acid hydrolysis. The influence of CNCs on PHB properties was evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, thermogravimetry and tensile testing. Vapor permeation and light transmission of the materials were also measured. Differential scanning calorimetric tests demonstrated that CNCs were effective PHB nucleation agents. Tensile strength and Young's modulus of PHB increased with increasing CNC concentration. Moreover, the PHB/CNC bionanocomposites exhibited reduced water vapor permeation compared to neat PHB and had better UV barrier properties than commodity polymers such as polypropylene. It was found that nanocomposites with 6 wt% of CNCs had the optimum balance among thermal, mechanical and barrier properties. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Recent Technology Developments in the Production of Grain‐Oriented Electrical Steel

Despite a long history of continuously improved magnetic properties, the further development of grain‐oriented electrical steel is still an exciting field for industrial and joint fundamental research. Today, the driving forces for research and development (R&D) are on one hand increasing quality demands, i.e. still lower losses for more energy‐efficient transformers and less transformer noise, and on the other hand the pressure to reduce manufacturing costs in order to stay competitive on the market. Evidently in the last years, the latter aspect has become the mainspring for most of the industrial R&D activities. Now nearly all producers are aiming at more compact and less expensive production routes. From the new techniques under development, most advanced in commercial realization is the application of low slab reheating temperatures in the range 1150… 1300°C instead of up to 1400°C in the classical processes. A radical new method is thin slab casting and direct hot rolling used for steels with a system of inherent plus acquired inhibitors, the latter formed by nitriding the cold rolled strip. This method is very promising and far advanced in industrial tests. Another way for process shortening is to cast directly the hot strip from the steel melt by a twin‐roll method. In pilot line tests, good cold workability and good magnetic properties have been achieved by optimising chemical composition, casting conditions, and subsequent thermo‐mechanical treatments and by working with inherent plus acquired inhibitors. Another theoretical potential for cost and time saving is to replace box annealing for secondary recrystallization by short‐time continuous annealing. Such processes are under development, partly using special in‐line procedures to realize fast inhibitor creation after primary recrystallization, but are today still far away from commercial realization.     

Functional Properties of Plasticized Bio-Based Poly(Lactic Acid)_Poly(Hydroxybutyrate) (PLA_PHB) Films for Active Food Packaging

Fully bio-based and biodegradable active films based on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) blended with poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and incorporating lactic acid oligomers (OLA) as plasticizers and carvacrol as active agent were extruded and fully characterized in their functional properties for antimicrobial active packaging. PLA_PHB films showed good barrier to water vapor, while the resistance to oxygen diffusion decreased with the addition of OLA and carvacrol. Their overall migration in aqueous food simulant was determined and no significant changes were observed by the addition of carvacrol and OLA to the PLA_PHB formulations. However, the effect of both additives in fatty food simulant can be considered a positive feature for the potential protection of foodstuff with high fat content. Moreover, the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the proposed formulations increased by the presence of carvacrol, with enhanced activity against Staphylococcus aureus if compared to Escherichia coli at short and long incubation times. These results underlined the specific antimicrobial properties of these bio-films suggesting their applicability in active food packaging.     

PLGA/Ag nanocomposites: in vitro degradation study and silver ion release

New nanocomposite films based on a biodegradable poly (DL-Lactide-co-Glycolide) copolymer (PLGA) and different concentration of silver nanoparticles (Ag) were developed by solvent casting. In vitro degradation studies of PLGA/Ag nanocomposites were conducted under physiological conditions, over a 5 week period, and compared to the behaviour of the neat polymer. Furthermore the silver ions (Ag⁺) release upon degradation was monitored to obtain information on the properties of the nanocomposites during the incubation. The obtained results suggest that the PLGA film morphology can be modified introducing a small percentage of silver nanoparticles that do not affect the degradation mechanism of PLGA polymer in the nanocomposite. However results clearly evinced the stabilizing effect of the Ag nanoparticles in the PLGA polymer and the mineralization process induced by the combined effect of silver and nanocomposite surface topography. The Ag⁺ release can be controlled by the polymer degradation processes, evidencing a prolonged antibacterial effect.     

Effect of thermomechanical transformation and type of stabilization on formability of ELI 18 Cr 2 Mo and 21 Cr 3 Mo ferritic stainless steels

Effect of Ti, Nb, Ti+Nb and of cold rolling shedule on formability of stabilized ELI 18 Cr 2 Mo and 21 Cr 3 Mo steels. Single step reduction of around 80 % followed by continuous annealing: 3 min at 900 °C confer exceptional deep drawing properties. Ti strongly favours textures, Nb slackens them, Ti+Nb is a satisfactory balance of very high deep drawing properties and low planar anisotropy.     

Hyaluronic acid hydrogels incorporating platelet lysate enhance human pulp cell proliferation and differentiation

The restoration of dentine-pulp complex remains a challenge for dentists; nonetheless, it has been poorly addressed. An ideal system should modulate the host response, as well as enable the recruitment, proliferation and differentiation of relevant progenitor cells. Herein was proposed a photocrosslinkable hydrogel system based on hyaluronic acid (HA) and platelet lysate (PL). PL is a cocktail of growth factors (GFs) and cytokines involved in wound healing orchestration, obtained by the cryogenic processing of platelet concentrates, and was expected to provide the HA hydrogels specific biochemical cues to enhance pulp cells’ recruitment, proliferation and differentiation. Stable HA hydrogels incorporating PL (HAPL) were prepared after photocrosslinking of methacrylated HA (Met-HA) previously dissolved in PL, triggered by the Ultra Violet activated photoinitiator Irgacure 2959. Both the HAPL and plain HA hydrogels were shown to be able to recruit cells from a cell monolayer of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) isolated from permanent teeth. The hDPCs were also seeded directly over the hydrogels (5?×?10⁴ cells/hydrogel) and cultured in osteogenic conditions. Cell metabolism and DNA quantification were higher, in all time-points, for PL supplemented hydrogels (p?<?0,05). Alkaline phosphatase (ALPL) activity and calcium quantification peaks were observed for the HAPL group at 21 days (p?<?0,05). The gene expression for ALPL and COLIA1 was up-regulated at 21 days to HAPL, compared with HA group (p?<?0,05). Within the same time point, the gene expression for RUNX2 did not differ between the groups. Overall, data demonstrated that the HA hydrogels incorporating PL increased the cellular metabolism and stimulate the mineralized matrix deposition by hDPSCs, providing clear evidence of the potential of the proposed system for the repair of damaged pulp/dentin tissue and endodontics regeneration.