Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrospun zinc oxide/poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibrous membranes: in vitro and wear trial evaluation of antimicrobial activity

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the antimicrobial properties of ZnO/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanofibrous membranes by in vitro trials and to investigate the effectiveness and sustainability in the reduction of bacteria by conducting wear trials in real-use situations. Layered fabric systems with a very thin layer of a ZnO/PVA nanofibrous membrane layered onto polypropylene nonwoven substrates were developed and applied to shoe insoles. Eight healthy males participated in seven different wear trials in which they played a basketball game for 2 hours wearing the prototype. In the in vitro testing, ZnO/PVA nanofibrous membranes obtained from an 11 wt% PVA solution containing 3 wt% ZnO nanoparticles with a web area density of 3.0 g/m2 exhibited a 99.9% reduction of Staphylococcus aureus. In the wear trials, the shoe insoles with ZnO/PVA nanofibrous membranes obtained from the same concentration solution at a web area density of 6.0 g/m2 showed 80.9%, 84.8%, and 82.8% reductions of Staphylococcus aureus after 8, 15, and 22 days of use, respectively. In addition, another set of shoe insoles was kept at a constant temperature and humidity level after the third wear trial and resulted in 66.0% and 86.6% reductions of Staphylococcus aureus after 15 and 22 days, respectively. Although the wear trial results showed lower antimicrobial properties compared to the in vitro trials, our findings indicate that the shoe insoles showed a consistent and reasonable level of antimicrobial activity over a period of time. This suggests that ZnO/PVA nanofibrous membranes with an antimicrobial function, which are ultrathin, flexible, and highly porous, have potential for use in sports/outdoor textiles.
The stability of biomolecules and the implications for life at high temperatures

The thermal stability of two key groups of biological molecules, intracellular small molecules and metabolites and the major classes of macromolecules, are examined to estimate the upper temperature limit for life at the subcellular level. Certain small molecules and metabolites are unstable in vitro at the growth temperatures of the hyperthermophiles in which they are found. This instability appears to be dealt with in vivo by a range of mechanisms including rapid turnover, metabolic channelling and local stabilization. Evidence to date suggests that proteins have the potential to be stable at substantially higher temperatures than those known to support life, but evidence concerning degradative reactions above 100°C is slight. DNA duplex stability is apparently achieved at high temperature by elevated salt concentrations, polyamines, cationic proteins, and supercoiling rather than manipulation of G+C ratios. RNA stability is enhanced by covalent modification, and secondary structure is probably also critical. The diether-linked lipids, which make up the monolayer membrane of most organisms growing above 85°C are chemically very stable and seem potentially capable of maintaining membrane integrity at much higher temperatures. However, the in vivo implications of the in vitro instability of biomolecules are difficult to assess, and in vivo data are rare.
Advanced Streaming Agent Development. Volume II: Metal Compounds.

Abstract : The objective of the overall effort is to develop new chemical compounds as Halon 1211 replacements. Four families of compounds are particularly promising-phosphorus nitrides, metal compounds, silicon compounds, and tropodegradable halocarbons. This report is Volume II of a 5-volume series of reports. Volume I covers silicon compounds; Volume III, phosphorus compounds, Volume IV, tropodegradable halocarbons; and Volume V, laboratory-scale streaming tests. The portion of the work presented in this document reviews metal compounds as candidates as Halon 1211 substitutes and reports laboratory-scale testing of these compounds.
Addition of Carboxylic Acids to Cyclic Olefins Catalyzed by Strong Acidic Ion-Exchange Resins

The esterification of several cyclic olefins with saturated and unsaturated carboxylic acids has been studied over highly dispersed strongly acidic ion-exchange resins based on Nafion, where the Nafion is entrapped within a porous silica matrix. Over these new catalysts the accessibility of the acid sites is much improved, in comparison to the original material. The activity has been compared to that of Amberlyst 15. The Nafion-based catalyst materials are superior to the weaker acidity Amberlyst catalysts when less active olefins are used and especially at low temperatures.
Role of photoionization and photochemistry in ionization processes of organic molecules and relevance for matrix-assisted laser desorption lonization mass spectrometry†

The ionization in ultraviolet laser desorption was investigated for a large number of small polar organic molecules which have a strong resonance absorption at the laser wavelength. In many cases, both positive- and/or negative-ion mass spectra show strong signals of ion species which deviate from the simple scheme of even-electron quasimolecular and fragment ion formation commonly expected for desorption techniques. These are radical cations and ion species formed by single and multiple hydrogen cleavage or addition. A model is proposed and discussed which explains these features assuming photoionization as the common initial ionization step followed by ion-molecule reactions to the final product ions. The mass spectra of all compounds proved to function well in matrix-assisted ultraviolet laser desorption/ionization show characteristic features indicative of their photochemical reactivity. This observation substantiates the hypothesis of tbe essential role of the matrix in analyte ionization.
Gas-liquid mass transfer in the jet reactor with liquid jet ejector.

Liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficients and effective gas-liquid specific interfacial areas were measured from the longitudinal distribution of oxygen concentration in gas phase by catalytic sulfite oxidation with air in the spouting and the calm sections, which were the lower and upper regions respectively in the jet reactor with liquid jet ejector. Both liquid-side volumetric coefficients and effective gas-liquid specific interfacial areas increased with the kinetic energy of the liquid jet, and their values in the spouting section were larger than those in the calm section. Further, effective gas-liquid specific interfacial area showed greater values than in other types of reactors, at a similar power supply per unit reactor volume.
Free Radical Formation in Wool Fibers Treated by Low Temperature Plasma

Electron spin resonance studies of merino wool fabrics provide evidence of the presence of stable free radicals. Ultraviolet/visible (λ > 250 nm) irradiation increases the radical concentration. Nitrogen, air, and water vapor plasma treatments on wool fabrics result in new signal bands attributed to nitrogen-centered radicals. The formation of the different additional radicals could be related to the high reactivity of the plasma species or to the vacuum-ultraviolet radiation component (λ < 200 nm) of the plasma environ ment. The presence of these radicals depends on the treatment time and the kind of gas used for plasma generation.
When Size Matters: Active Area Dependence of PEFC Cold Start Capability

Understanding the freezing mechanism of liquid water within polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) is crucial for its commercialization for mass market. Although various publications investigated the cold start capability of PEFCs, contradictory behaviors during cold starts at freezing temperatures have been published in literature. Interestingly, differences can be mainly identified between large and small size fuel cells: the latter have a significantly higher cold start capability than large size fuel cells. In order to understand the influence of different active areas, we present measurements of cold starts performed with cells sizes of 1 and 50 cm2 using the same materials, including a large count of experiments (>200) on the 1 cm2 cells to perform statistical analysis. The cold start capability is strongly reduced with an increasing size of the active area, and the operating times changes from stochastic values for small cells to reproducible values for large cells. Both effects can be explained by the higher probability of the aggregate state transition from super-cooled water to ice in large cells. Consequently this paper highlights the implications of downscaling PEFCs to draw conclusions for technical relevant cold-starts. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. [DOI: 10.1149/2.0871510jes] All rights reserved.
Vieillissement d'isolants de câbles en polyéthylène en ambiance nucléaire

Cette these porte sur la prediction de duree de vie du polyethylene en ambiance nucleaire. Elle se caracterise par la recherche d'une solution non empirique au probleme. Il s'agit d'etablir un modele decrivant l'evolution du polymere (y compris l'heterogeneite induite par un controle de la cinetique d'oxydation par la diffusion de l'oxygene) a toute temperature comprise entre l'ambiante et la temperature de fusion du polymere, et a tout debit de dose compris entre 0 et 1 kGy. H-1, avec des durees de vie s'etalant sur plusieurs dizaines d'annees. La difficulte majeure etait la prise en compte d'un processus d'amorcage dual : par radiolyse du polymere et par decomposition thermique des hydroperoxydes. Nous l'avons resolue en considerant d'abord les regimes asymptotiques ou l'un des processus est negligeable par rapport a l'autre. Ayant identifie les parametres cinetiques propres a chacun des regimes, nous avons ensuite construit un modele numerique englobant tous les processus. Dans le cas du polyethylene non stabilise, ce modele a d'excellentes qualites predictives, tant en ce qui concerne la duree de vie a fragilisation, qu'en ce qui concerne l'epaisseur de la couche oxydee. Nous sommes ensuite passes a l'etude d'echantillons de polyethylene stabilises par un phenol encombre et par un sulfure. L'analyse de la consommation du phenol revele l'existence de mecanismes non encore etudies, en particulier l'existence d'un effet " reservoir " lie a la presence d'une phase de phenol en exces. Un modele cinetique a ete elabore, mais nous ne savons pas encore dans quelle mesure les caracteristiques prises en compte sont specifiques aux stabilisants etudies ou generalisables.
Capillary Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry for Peptide and Protein Characterization

Abstract Developments in capillary column liquid chromatography have been driven in part by the need to develop an effective interface between liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC/ MS). Although the cost of commercial columns and pumping systems capable of gradient elution is relatively high, many aspects of the technology are relatively simple to do in house and easily adapted to existing instrumentation. The vacuum environment of the mass spectrometer can accept only a few microliters per minute of solvent flow. This can be accomplished by splitting higher flows or through the use of a novel pumping system that delivers gradients at low flow rates. The interface to the mass spectrometer is most easily accomplished using electrospray ionization. Electrospray has the advantage of producing multiply charged species that permit the analysis of large protein structures on mass spectrometers with limited mass range. Samples eluting from a capillary column are in an ideal form for electrospray mass spectrometry. Concentrations are high and components of interest have been separated from contaminants such as salts that interfere with the electrospray process. Thus, mass spectral analyses can be obtained on samples that are otherwise difficult or impossible to do. The accuracy of electrospray mass spectrometry is sufficient to monitor small changes in the masses of large proteins. This feature is very useful for studying the interactions of proteins with substrates and inhibitors. IC/MS analysis of peptide mixtures resulting from enzyme digestion of large proteins is very useful for rapidly confirming the sequence of recombinant proteins. When combined with automated methods of obtaining fragment ion spectra on individual peptides during an LC/MS run, it is possible to very quickly determine the location of single amino acid changes in mutant proteins.
Growth mechanism of atomic layer deposition of zinc oxide: A density functional theory approach

Atomic layer deposition of zinc oxide (ZnO) using diethylzinc (DEZ) and water is studied using density functional theory. The reaction pathways between the precursors and ZnO surface sites are discussed. Both reactions proceed by the formation of intermediate complexes on the surface. The Gibbs free energy of the formation of these complexes is positive at temperatures above ∼120 °C and ∼200 °C for DEZ and water half-reactions, respectively. Spectroscopic ellipsometry results show that the growth per cycle changes at approximately the same temperatures.
Third harmonic generation of soluble vanadyl-phthalocyanine doped in polymer film

The third-order optical susceptibilities of PMMA thin films doped with soluble vanadyl-phthalocyanine derivatives ((t-Bu)/sub n/VOPc) were studied by Maker fringe method. We intended to control the molecular packing of VOPc in PMMA in order to improve third-order optical susceptibility (/spl chi//sup (3)/). For this purpose we selected soluble /sub n/VOPc derivatives and obtained a packing structure similar to the phase II of VOPc thin film. Packing control of the phthalocyanine molecules was carried out by exposing PMMA films to organic solvent vapour. PMMA thin films doped with (t-Bu)/sub 4/VOPc, (t-Bu)/sub 1.45/VOPc and (t-Bu)/sub 1.44/VOPc were treated with dichloroethane vapour in a desiccator at room temperature. The intensity of THG are in the order of (t-Bu)/sub 1.45/VOfc/PMMA>(t-Bu)/sub 1.44/VOPc/PMMA>VOPc(t-Bu)/sub 4/VOPc/PMMA. This means that the hyperpolarisability of (t-Bu)/sub n/VOPc molecule depends upon a number of tert-butyl radicals. The third-order optical susceptibility (/spl chi//sup (3)/) was estimated for (t-Bu)/sub 1.45/VOPc/PMMA. Its value was about 7/spl times/10/sup -12/ esu. This technique is useful to make optical waveguide.
A Comparison of Hydrocarbon Vapor Attenuation in the Field with Predictions from Vapor Diffusion Models

This study used field data from three sites in Southern California to evaluate vapor phase transport from: (1) free product (die-sel and gasoline spill) on groundwater; (2) dissolved benzene (gasoline spill) in groundwater; and (3) hydrocarbon-impacted soil (gasoline spill) in the vadose zone. A sampling program to evaluate the vapor pathway included the following: vertical profile data, minimal purging prior to sample collection, field analysis of data, confirmation of field data using a fixed laboratory analysis, and soil physical property data. Comparison of hydrocarbon vapor concentrations measured in this field study with those calculated using vapor diffusion models suggest that an additional attenuation factor of between 500 and 35,000 is needed to account for observed concentrations. Comparison of hydrocarbon profiles with oxygen, carbon dioxide, and methane values is consistent with the interpretation that biodegradation is primarily responsible for the observed attenuation. Therefore, vapor pathway models that do not account for bioattenuation will result in a large overesti-mation of the risk at spill sites and will not be consistent with field data.
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS: Luminescence and stimulated emission of neodymium in sodium lanthanum molybdate powders

The results are given of an investigation of the luminescence and stimulated emission spectra of powder phosphors of the Na5La1-x Ndx(MoO4)4 composition prepared by the method of solidstate synthesis. Stimulated emission of neodymium was observed under the influence of strong pumping with laser pulses of 30-nsec duration. Such emission was indicated by monochromatization of the spectrum, strong reduction in the duration of the pulses and a simultaneous steep rise of the luminescence intensity, and transformation of the excitation spectrum. The appearance of stimulated radiation had a clear threshold.
Computer simulation of FCC riser reactors.

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, ICRKFLO, was developed to simulate the multiphase reacting flow system in a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) riser reactor. The code solve flow properties based on fundamental conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy for gas, liquid, and solid phases. Useful phenomenological models were developed to represent the controlling FCC processes, including droplet dispersion and evaporation, particle-solid interactions, and interfacial heat transfer between gas, droplets, and particles. Techniques were also developed to facilitate numerical calculations. These techniques include a hybrid flow-kinetic treatment to include detailed kinetic calculations, a time-integral approach to overcome numerical stiffness problems of chemical reactions, and a sectional coupling and blocked-cell technique for handling complex geometry. The copyrighted ICRKFLO software has been validated with experimental data from pilot- and commercial-scale FCC units. The code can be used to evaluate the impacts of design and operating conditions on the production of gasoline and other oil products.
TRANSPIRATION RESPONDING TO LIGHT CONDITIONS IN CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS-EFFECT OF INFRARED RADIATION

Transpiration rate (E), leaf conductance (C_L), leaf temperature (T_L) and vapor density difference (W_L-W_A) between leaf and air in cucumber plants were examined in a phytotron glass room and a growth chamber under different light conditions. In the phytotron, intensity of solar radiation was variable according to solar altitude and sky conditions, and E, T_L and W_L-W_A in the daytime varied with the intensities of the solar radiation: The respective elevations of E, T_L and W_L-W_A were remarkably higher on a fair day as compared with those on a rainy day. On the other hand, C_L in the daytime was kept almost constant even in variable intensities of solar radiation, and E in the daytime was linearly related to W_L-W_A which was responsible for evaporative demand against the plant. The same effects of the light condition on E, C_L, T_L and W_L-W_A were found in the growth chamber under two different artificial lights (metal halide lamps with heat absorbing filter and without the filter) which were set at equal PPFD but contained different intensities of infrared radiation. These results indicate that infrared radiation affects transpiration mainly through the physical process in vapor diffusion from leaf to air. Thus, the infrared radiation were responsible for the increase in evaporative demand against the plant by raising W_L-W_A which varied with T_L affected directly by the radiation.
High‐resolution Inner‐shell Photoionization, Photoelectron and Coincidence Spectroscopy

This article gives an overview of high-resolution photoionization, photoelectron, and coincidence spectroscopies of inner-shell excited species of increasing complexity ranging from atoms to nanoparticles. The development and the routine use of soft X-ray techniques is intimately related to the spectacular advances in instrumentation in the last twenty years. These concern not only the construction and operation of high-performance soft X-ray beamlines at several synchrotron radiation laboratories around the world but also the remarkable improvement in charged particle analyzers and detectors (detection efficiency, resolution) and the extensive use of multidimensional coincidence techniques that allows simultaneous acquisition and further correlation of several physical parameters. From the examples we have chosen to present, it is apparent that inner-shell ionization studies are not limited anymore by the lifetime broadening effects and that a deep and unique insight into ultrafast dynamics is possible. Various examples are shown of both pure high-resolution photoionization and electron spectroscopies together with more sophisticated techniques such as the electron–ion coincidence measurements with energy and angle resolution. A prospective view of the field is given in the end. In particular, the expectations from the next-generation ultrahigh brilliance X-ray sources such as energy recovery linacs or free electron lasers are briefly tackled. Keywords: inner shell; core-excited; photoelectron; Auger; coincidence; molecule; Raman; dynamics; dissociation; vibration
Oxygen ion migration in La2CuO4

Abstract Calculated migration energies for oxygen vacancies and interstitial oxide ions in tetragonal La2CuO4 are reported. These are low and similar in magnitude to those for oxygen vacancy migration in binary oxide systems such as zirconia. An important difference between zirconia and these ternary cuprates, however, is that calculated association energies between divalent cation impurities and oxygen vacancies are much smaller in the latter.
Impact of tillage intensity on carbon and nitrogen pools in surface and sub‐surface soils of three long‐term field experiments

Management options such as the intensity of tillage are known to influence the turnover dynamics of soil organic matter. However, less information is available about the influence of the tillage intensity on individual soil organic matter pools with different turnover dynamics in surface as compared with sub‐surface soils. This study aimed to analyse the impact of no tillage (NT), reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT) on labile, intermediate and stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools in surface and sub‐surface soils. We took surface and sub‐surface soil samples from the three tillage systems in three long‐term field experiments in Germany. The labile, intermediate and stable C and N pool sizes were determined by using the combined application of a decomposition experiment and a physical‐chemical separation procedure. For the surface soils, we found larger stocks of the labile C and N pool under NT and RT (C, 1.7 and 1.3 t ha−1; N, 180 and 160 kg ha−1) than with CT (C, 0.5 t ha−1; N, 60 kg ha−1). In contrast, we found significantly larger stocks of the labile C pool under CT (2.7 t ha−1) than with NT and RT (2 t ha−1) for the sub‐surface soils. The intermediate pool accounted for 75–84% of the soil organic C and total N stocks. However, the stocks of the intermediate N and C pools were only distinctly larger for NT than for CT in the surface soils. The stocks of the stable C and N pools were not affected by the tillage intensity but were positively correlated with the stocks of the clay‐size fraction and oxalate soluble aluminum, indicating a strong influence of site‐specific mineral characteristics on the size of these pools. Our results indicate soil depth‐specific variations in the response of organic matter pools to tillage of different intensity. This means that the potential benefits of decreasing tillage intensity with respect to soil functions that are closely related to organic matter dynamics have to be evaluated separately for surface and sub‐surface soils.