Kraft paper was coated with resins based on vegetable oils and then tested for mechanical properties, rate of biodegradation in soil, and ability to inhibit weed growth. Resins included oxidatively polymerized linseed oil (LO) and a polyester formed by the reaction of epoxidized soybean oil and citric acid (ESO–CA). Tensile strength of LO-coated paper (82 MPa) was slightly higher than uncoated ...

Based on a constant-pressure Monte Carlo molecular simulation, we have studied orientationally ordered transitions of small anisotropic molecules confined in two parallel hard walls. These molecules are modeled by the hard Gaussian overlap model. The molecular elongations of the chosen molecules are so small that the molecules cannot form stable liquid-crystal (LC) phases in the bulk. But in th...

The authors present enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI OCT) and fundus autofluorescence (FAF) characteristics of a patient with bilateral choroidal osteoma and try to make a correlation between two imaging techniques. Two eyes of a patient with choroidal osteoma underwent complete ophthalmic examination. Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography revealed a cage-l...

Biodegradable polyurethane is an ideal candidate material to fabricate tissue engineered hypopharynx from its good mechanical properties and biodegradability. We thus synthesized a hydrophilic polyurethane via reactions among polyethylene glycol (PEG), e-caprolactone (e-CL) and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), and thrihydroxymethyl propane (TMP). The product possessed a fast degradability due ...

Spider silk has exceptional mechanical and biocompatibility properties. The goal of this study was optimization of the mechanical properties of synthetic spider silk thin films made from synthetic forms of MaSp1 and MaSp2, which compose the dragline silk of Nephila clavipes. We increased the mechanical stress of MaSp1 and 2 films solubilized in both HFIP and water by adding glutaraldehyde and t...

We study the existence and decay of solutions to kinetic models of incompressible polymeric flow. We consider dumbbell type models in the case when the drag term is co-rotational and weak solutions are constructed via a Leray-type approximation. We analyze the decay when the space of elongations is bounded, and the spatial domain of the polymer is either a bounded domain Ω ⊂ Rn, n = 2, 3 or it ...

Improved electrically powered artificial muscles are needed for generating force, moving objects, and accomplishing work. Carbon nanotube aerogel sheets are the sole component of new artificial muscles that provide giant elongations and elongation rates of 220% and (3.7 x 10(4))% per second, respectively, at operating temperatures from 80 to 1900 kelvin. These solid-state-fabricated sheets are ...

The spin Hamiltonian parameters for the two Cu centers A1 and A2 in the calcined catalysts CuO–ZnO are theoretically investigated using the high order perturbation formulas of these parameters for a 3d ion in tetragonally elongated octahedra. In the above formulas, the tetragonal field parameters Ds and Dt are determined from the superposition model, by considering the relative axial elongation...

Peripheral nerve trunks are viscoelastic tissues with unique mechanical characteristics. Tensile strength, which includes elastic limit and mechanical failure, concerns surgeons. This study shows that measurements of the load necessary to achieve certain elongations on specimens outside the body do not correspond with in situ measurements. The necessary load is influenced by the presence or abs...

Polyunsaturated fatty acids found in animals are fundamental products of successive desaturations and elongations of linoleic ( 18 : 2 , r i 6), a-holenic ( lX:3,ri 3) , oleic ( 18 : 1 , r i 9) and palmitoleic ( 16 : 1 , t i 7) acids. The most important ones are those derived from linoleic and a-linolenic acids and they have major physiological implications. The enzymes responsible for the desa...