Castor oil-based polyurethane coatings containing benzyl triethanol ammonium chloride: synthesis,characterization, and biological properties

In the present work, benzyl triethanol ammonium chloride (BTEAC) was employed as a reactive bactericidal additive for preparing of polyurethane coatings. In this regard, castor oil as a renewable resource-based polyol, polyethylene glycol (PEG1000), and BTEAC were reacted with toluene diisocyanate. Physical, mechanical, and thermal characteristics as well as biocompatibility and antibacterial properties of polyurethanes were evaluated. The prepared polyurethanes showed two-phase structure with soft and hard segments glass transition temperature transitions in the range of 18–70 and 85–153 °C, respectively. Initial modulus and tensile strength were improved for coatings with higher BTEAC content, while elongation at break and thermal stability were decreased. Hydrophilicity of coatings was increased for polyurethanes based on higher content of BTEAC and PEG1000. Polyurethanes with higher BTEAC content showed better cytocompatibility for mouse L929 fibroblast cells. Moreover, coatings with higher hydrophilicity and BTEAC content displayed superior antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.     

CHARACTERIZATION OF EFFECTIVE TIRE CONTACT AREA FOR VARIOUS TREAD PATTERNS

The effective tire-pavement contact area affects the relative damage of asphalt pavement and should be incorporated in both mechanistic and empirical response analyses of pavements. A new machine called ROTOCOM Wheel Tracker (RCWT) was designed and fabricated to capture the effective tire contact area apart from slab compacting, and conducting simulative laboratory wheel tracking tests. The main focus of this paper is laboratory measurement of effective tire contact areas for various tread patterns. Seven tire treads were selected for the footprint image analyses at five tire loads and four tire inflation pressures. An image processing MATLAB-based program was coded to calculate the contact areas of the 280 imprints obtained from both sides of the RCWT. Factorial analysis indicated significant effects of tire tread, tire load, and inflation pressure on the resulting contact area. Comparison between effective and traditional contact areas indicated that the current pavement design procedure with traditional circular contact area extremely overestimates the actual tire-pavement contact area up to 92%.     

Efficient repairing effect of PEG based tri-block copolymer on mechanically damaged PC12 cells and isolated spinal cord

Membrane sealing effects of polymersomes made of tri-block copolymer, PEG-co-FA/SC-co-PEG, (PFSP) were studied on isolated spinal cord strips, PC12 cell lines and artificial bilayer following mechanical impact implemented by aneurism clip, sonication and electric shock, respectively. The homogeneity and size of PFSP, membrane permeability and cell viability were assessed by dynamic light scattering, LDH release and MTT assays. According to the results, the biocompatible, physico-chemical, size, surface charge and amphipathic nature of PFSP polymersome makes it an ideal macromolecule to rapidly reseal damaged membranes of cells in injured spinal cord as well as in culture medium. Compound action potentials recorded from intentionally damaged spinal cord strips incubated with PFSP showed restoration of neural excitability by 82.24 % and conduction velocity by 96.72 % after 5 min that monitored in real time. Thus, they triggered efficient instant and sustained sealing of membrane and reactivation of temporarily inactivated axons. Treatment of ultrasonically damaged PC12 cells by PFSP caused efficient cell membrane repair and led to their increased viability. The optimum effects of PFSP on stabilization and impermeabilizing of the lipid bilayer occurred at the same concentrations applied to the damaged cells and spinal cord fibers and was approved by restoration of membrane conductance and calcein release manifested by NanoDrop technique. The unique physico-chemical characteristics of novel polymersomes introduced here, make them capable to reorganize membrane lipid molecules, reseal the breaches and restore the hydrophobic insulation in spinal cord damaged cells. Thus, they might be considered in the clinical treatment of SCI at early stages.     

Unidirectional growth of pure and L-lysine added ADP crystals from aqueous solution

Pure and L-lysine added ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) crystals were grown in the 〈001〉 direction by Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy (S-R) method. The grown crystals were characterized by X-Ray diffractometry (XRD), UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and Vicker’s Microhardness analysis. XRD spectrum of each of the grown crystals proved its crystallinity. The crystals showed good transparency in the entire visible region. FT-IR spectra of the specimens revealed the presence of functional groups in them. The hardness of the pure and L-lysine added ADP crystals were measured and that of the added one was found higher. Meanwhile, it was found that the ADP crystals (pure and L-lysine added) grown by S-R method had higher hardness compared to ADP crystal grown by conventional method.     

Wachstumsmessungen von Kristallen in sauberen und verunreinigten Lösungen: Einzelkristall vs. Kollektiv

Information about crystal growth rates and the influence of impurities are essential for the design of industrial crystallization processes. Here, the influence of trivalent metal ions Fe³⁺ in solution and adsorbed in the crystal on the growth and dissolution rate is investigated. The results clearly show kinetic and thermodynamic effects caused by impurities which have to be taken into account in the equipment design. Furthermore, effects of growth rate dispersion must be excluded by investigation of crystal collectives. Additionally, the crystal growth data should be obtained from real starting solutions.     

Towards the performance evaluation of 4th generation wireless communication standards: LTE versus Mobile WiMAX

Advances in wireless communication protocols and networking toward support of the next generation of mobile and radio broadband technologies have contributed to a strong competition among various telecommunication standards in particular Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Mobile Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). In this paper, we provide an in‐depth comparison analysis of LTE and Mobile WiMAX at the physical (PHY) layer by studying the most similar PHY configuration scenarios for these two technologies. Our study includes a throughput analysis of downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmissions in time division duplex with the least overhead possible and different antenna schemes as well as modulation and code rates. This study also performs an overhead analysis in both protocols to provide a more in‐depth understanding of the PHY layer capacity in various PHY layer configurations. Our simulation results generally show higher performance for LTE in both DL and UL transmission with 7 Mbps in DL and 5 Mbps in UL, when using one antenna port. However, by increasing the number of antennas for multiple‐input/multiple‐output configurations, the results illustrate a reduction in the performance of LTE compared to Mobile WiMAX. This arises from the increase in reference signal overhead in LTE from 4.7% in single‐input/single‐output (SISO) to 14.28% in 4 × 4 multiple‐input/multiple‐output (MIMO). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plastic hinge length of reinforced concrete columns subjected to both far‐fault and near‐fault ground motions having forward directivity

In a strong earthquake, a standard reinforced concrete (RC) column may develop plastic deformations in regions often termed as plastic hinge regions. A plastic hinge is basically an energy dampening device that dampens energy through the plastic rotation of a rigid column connection, which triggers redistribution of bending moments. The formation of a plastic hinge in an RC column in regions that experience inelastic actions depends on the characteristics of the earthquakes as well as the column details. Recordings from recent earthquakes have provided evidence that ground motions in the near field of a rupturing fault can contain a large energy or ‘directivity’ pulse. A directivity pulse occurs when the propagation of the fault proceeds at nearly the same rate as the shear wave velocity. This pulse is seen in the forward direction of the rupture and can cause considerable damage during an earthquake, especially to structures with natural periods that are close to those of the pulse. In the present paper, 1316 inelastic time‐history analyses have been performed to predict the nonlinear behaviour of RC columns under both far‐fault and near‐fault ground motions. The effects of axial load, height over depth ratio and amount of longitudinal reinforcement, as well as different characteristics of earthquakes, were evaluated analytically by finite element methods and the results were compared with corresponding experimental data. Based on the results, simple expressions were proposed that can be used to estimate plastic hinge length of RC columns subjected to both far‐fault and near‐fault earthquakes that contain a forward‐directivity effect. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.