Recent advances in supercritical fluid dyeing

Supercritical fluid dyeing is a promising technology that was first proposed in the 1980s to overcome the high energy demand and water consumption of conventional textile coloration. This review covers its advances from 2014 to the present, from the successful industrial implementation of supercritical fluid dyeing of polyethylene terephthalate to the most recent results obtained for the dyeing of other synthetic and natural textiles. Specific attention is also dedicated to the most innovative applications of supercritical fluid dyeing such as the functionalisation of textile and non-textile substrates, which may give rise to the development of other sustainable processes or novel advanced materials in the near future

Feasibility of Reclaimed Lumber in Construction

As sustainable building becomes more and more prevalent in the construction industry, builders and homeowners are experimenting more with different kinds of building materials. The focus of this paper is on reclaimed wood. One can find reclaimed wood almost anywhere, in an old barn, lumber yards, basically any place that has valuable wood that is not being used. This wood is then taken to a mill and cleaned up. Imperfections are removed, nails are taken out, and any finish that will be used is applied. Reclaimed wood has grown in popularity in construction projects over the last few decades. The rustic, antique feel that the wood has draws in contractors and homeowners alike. This paper looks to explore the different ways to incorporate reclaimed wood into residential or small commercial construction projects, examining both the cost-effectiveness and the sustainability of different kinds of reclaimed wood projects. Having personally worked with reclaimed wood on different kinds of projects, I wanted to provide more information on how to best use this unique material

Comparison between multi-linear- and radial-basis-function-neural-network-based QSPR Models for the prediction of the critical temperature, critical pressure and acentric factor of organic compounds

Critical properties and acentric factor are widely used in phase equilibrium calculations but are difficult to evaluate with high accuracy for many organic compounds. Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship (QSPR) models are a powerful tool to establish accurate correlation between molecular properties and chemical structure. QSPR multi-linear (MLR) and radial basis-function-neural-network (RBFNN) models have been developed to predict the critical temperature, critical pressure and acentric factor of a database of 306 organic compounds. RBFNN models provided better data correlation and higher predictive capability (an AAD% of 0.92–2.0% for training and 1.7–4.8% for validation sets) than MLR models (an AAD% of 3.2–8.7% for training and 6.2–12.2% for validation sets). The RMSE of the RBFNN models was 20–30% of the MLR ones. The correlation and predictive performances of the models for critical temperature were higher than those for critical pressure and acentric factor, which was the most difficult property to predict. However, the RBFNN model for the acentric factor resulted in the lowest RMSE with respect to previous literature. The close relationship between the three properties resulted from the selected molecular descriptors, which are mostly related to molecular electronic charge distribution or polar interactions between molecules. QSPR correlations were compared with the most frequently used group-contribution methods over the same database of compounds: although the MLR models provided comparable results, the RBFNN ones resulted in significantly higher performance

Solubility of Cortisone and Hydrocortisone in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and Ethanol

Cortisone and hydrocortisone are poorly water-soluble corticosteroids widely used to treat many inflammatory and immune diseases. In the prospect of employing them in pharmaceutical applications or analytical techniques involving cosolvent-modified supercritical fluids, their solubility has been determined, for the first time, in a mixture of supercritical CO2 and 2, 3, or 4 mol % of ethanol, at 318.15, 328.15, 348.15, and 373.15 K, and in the pressure range of 13-27 MPa. Tests were conducted in a semi-flow laboratory apparatus, and results were fitted with the most popular density-based correlations reported in the literature for ternary systems. Even though the two drugs exhibit similar molecular structures, the solubility of cortisone in the ethanol-scCO2 mixtures is on average 3.5 times higher than that of hydrocortisone. This is congruent with the fact that the solubility of cortisone in pure ethanol is higher. The seven-parameter Reddy-Madras model (adjusted absolute average percent deviation (AARD%) = 8.8%) proved to be the best correlating one for cortisone while the six-parameter Garlapati-Madras approach (AARD% = 11.6%) provided the best fitting for hydrocortisone. The reliability of the experimental results was also confirmed by the positive response to the Mendez-Santiago-Teja self-consistency test

Characterization of Ketoprofen/Methyl-β-Cyclodextrin Complexes Prepared Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Complexes of methyl-β-cyclodextrin and ketoprofen, a crystalline anti-inflammatory drug with poor water solubility, have been prepared for the first time in the presence of supercritical CO2at 40°C and 20 MPa. The supercritical treatment allows these pharmaceutical formulations to be prepared without the use of any auxiliary agents or organic solvents. The treated samples were characterized through differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry, and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to exclude the presence of crystalline drug and check the formation of the complexes. The increase of the drug dissolution rate was investigated performing in vitro release tests in aqueous solutions. The results showed that the supercritical treatment can be an efficient method to obtain inclusion complexes with enhanced release kinetics. The operating methods of the release tests, that is, the "tablet method" or the "dispersed amount method," affected both the dissolution rate and its dependence on the drug amount in the samples. On the contrary, the variation of the pH of the dissolution medium did not show any effect on the release rate of the supercritical complexes

High School students' participation and the provision of choice

Tesis (Profesor de Inglés para la Enseñanza Básica y Media y al grado académico de Licenciado en Educación)Participation has been studied by many researchers during the last years. Researchers and important authorities related to the educational field highlight the importance of having students who actively participate inside the classrooms. Participation promotes interaction, which is a key element in the acquisition of a new language, and for this reason, when it comes to English classes, participation becomes even more important. Even though many researchers have been focusing their studies on analyzing in-class participation, there is a lack of studies in which students’ perceptions about their own participation are considered. Due to the importance of participation, many people have tried to come out with ideas, class methodologies and techniques that could enhance participation. Little is known about the provision of choice within classes however, studies on the topic have shown that the provision of choice, when offered in an appropriate way, could be beneficial for the creation of a sense of autonomy on students, and more specifically on adolescents. For the aim of the current study to be fulfill, the provision of choice will be considered as the opportunity for the meaningful realization of the individual’s desires or preferences related to class materials. The purpose of the current study is to understand high school students’ classroom participation views, and explore whether the provision of choice could somehow influence their perceptions about participation. An explanatory study using a mixed-method research design was used. A survey, a quantitative instrument, was utilized at the beginning of this investigation in order to select 5 out of 41 students from a ninth grade of a subsidized school. Classes in the school selected for this study were focused mainly on grammar and the participation rate inside the classroom was low therefore, it was considered a perfect scenario for the current study. After the survey, a first interview was done to the five participant of this study with the purpose of knowing students’ perceptions about participation and the concept of choice. Then, an intervention in which the provision of choice was given to the students with the use of class material took place. Finally, another interview was held in order to know if students’ perceptions about participation and choice had changed after the intervention. Results showed that in general students considered participation as an important factor inside the classroom; however, they did not feel comfortable participating orally in class. Finally, the results demonstrated that the provision of choice influenced students’ perceptions about participation within English sessions

Los lugares posibles de la creatividad

El presente trabajo es una reflexión y un análisis sobre los lugares de la creación particularmente en laciencia. Específicamente en lo que hace a nuevos descubrimientos científicos en los diferentes contextoshistóricos y con el advenimiento de la modernidad en especial.Luego el análisis se centra en la posmodernidad, con la particularidad de sus prácticas, y los posiblesmárgenes de la creación, particularmente la artística, en un contexto en el que la inmediatez, pero a la vez,el rechazo de lo real ligado a la tecnología y lo mediático, produce efectos que la diferencian de otroscontextos históricos.This work will be a reflexion and an analysis of the places use of the creation, specially those use for science.Specifically, in what makes the arrival of new scientific in discoveries different historical contexts and inspecial with the arrival of modernity.Later, the analysis centres in the post-modernity, with the particularity of its practices, and in the possiblemargins of creation, specially artistic, in a context where immediately, though at the same time the rejection of reality bound to technology and to intervention, causes effects which differentiate it with otherhistorical contexts.O seguinte trabalho representa uma reflexão e uma análise dos lugares de criação, particularmente naciência.Específicamente no que faz referência ao desenvolvimento de novos descobrimentos científicos ocurridosnos diferentes contextos históricos, e especialmente a chegada da modernidade.A partir disso, os análises centralizam-se na posmodernidade, com a particularidade de suas práticas e seuspossíveis marcos de criação, especialmente no meio artístico, em que a imediatez, e ao mesmo tempo arejeição do real, vinculado a tecnología e ao mediático, produzem efeitos que diferenciam-se de outroscontextos históricos

Determinación de la estructura genética y grado de endogamia de los ovinos criollos del Parque Nacional de San Miguel en base a información genómica

La tesis data de 2018, fue defendida en 2019 por lo cual se considera este año para el pie de imprenta.Los avances en genómica en los últimos años han llevado al desarrollo de paneles densos de polimorfismos de un solo nucleótido (SNP) que generan nuevas oportunidades para la investigación de la dinámica genética de las poblaciones. En este estudio se ha utilizado el panel de 606K SNP (AgResearch) (Panel 606K) para caracterizar genéticamente a un recurso zoogenético localizado en Uruguay, los ovinos Criollos, los cuales se encuentran clasificados en riesgo de extinción. Los objetivos del presente trabajo fueron, estudiar los niveles de diversidad genética, calcular la coascendencia y consanguinidad molecular (SNP-por-SNP y según los tramos de homocigosidad), determinar los patrones de desequilibrio de ligamiento y estimar el tamaño efectivo a partir dichos patrones en los ovinos Criollos. Además, con el objetivo de comparar los resultados de estos ovinos con el de dos razas comerciales (Corriedale y Merino), se evaluó la diversidad genética, la coascendencia y consanguinidad molecular utilizando los SNP comunes entre el panel de SNP de 50K y 606K (Panel 50/606K). Después del control de calidad, se disponía de 171 muestras de ovinos Criollos, 107 ovinos Corriedale y 104 ovinos Merino, y 561.777 SNP (Panel 606K) y 41.460 SNP (Panel 50/606K). La diversidad genética fue medida a través de la heterocigosidad esperada (He) y observada (Ho). Las mismas presentaron valores bajos, siendo los ovinos Criollos (Ho: 0,282; He: 0,276) los que tuvieron menores valores al compararlas con las razas Corriedale (Ho: 0,359; He: 0,360) y Merino (Ho: 0,370; He: 0,368), lo que se corresponde con los mayores valores de coascendencia (0,723) y consanguinidad molecular (FSNP) (0,718) obtenidos en estos ovinos. Al evaluar los resultados de los tramos de homocigosidad, el coeficiente de consanguinidad basado en ROH (FROH) en los ovinos Criollos con el Panel 50/606K en el que se utilizaron los mismos criterios para la identificación de los ROH que en las razas comerciales, fue mayor en los Criollos. El FROH promedio para los tramos largos fue mayor que FROH para los tramos cortos en Criollos (utilizando ambos paneles de SNP) y en Corriedale. En el caso de la raza Merino el FROH promedio fue igual para largos y cortos. Que el FROH promedio para los tramos largos fuese mayor sugiere que la mayor consanguinidad es reciente en las poblaciones bajo estudio. Con respecto al FROH por cromosoma, los ovinos Criollos presentaron el mayor valor en el cromosoma 6 y la raza Corriedale y Merino en el cromosoma 21 y 22, respectivamente. El desequilibrio de ligamiento, medido como el coeficiente de correlación entre pares de SNP al cuadrado fue de 0,43 para SNP separados a distancias menores de 0,01 Mb. Sin embargo, r2 disminuyó rápidamente a medida que aumentó la distancia entre los SNP. El r2 promedio se redujo a la mitad de su valor máximo en los primeros 0,25 Mb y a niveles no sinténicos/basales (r2 = 0,015) a una distancia mayor de 20 Mb. La estimación del tamaño efectivo mostró que el Ne ha decrecido un 23% desde la generación más lejana hasta la actualidad. La correlación entre los dos coeficientes de consanguinidad molecular estudiados fue alta y positiva. Considerando los resultados obtenidos se puede concluir que la variabilidad genética es reducida en los ovinos Criollos, puesto que se observó un bajo valor de heterocigosidad y altos valores de FSNP y FROH, y de coascendencia molecular. También se evidenció un reducido Ne y un alto DL. Este es el primer trabajo en el que se investiga el parentesco molecular, la consanguinidad molecular y la magnitud del tamaño efectivo a partir de datos genómicos en los ovinos Criollos. Dicha información es esencial en esta población de forma de lograr optimizar tanto las estrategias de conservación de los recursos zoogenéticos como las de utilización

Silica–Cyclodextrin Hybrid Materials: Two Possible Synthesis Processes

: Both cyclodextrin (CD) and porous silica possess interesting properties of adsorption and release. A silica-CD hybrid, therefore, could synergically merge the properties of the two components, giving rise to a material with appealing properties for both environmental and pharmaceutical applications. With this aim, in the present study, a first hybrid is obtained through one-pot sol-gel synthesis starting from CD and tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) as a silica precursor. In particular, methyl-β-cyclodextrin (bMCD) is selected for this purpose. The obtained bMCD-silica hybrid is a dense material containing a considerable amount of bMCD (45 wt.%) in amorphous form and therefore represents a promising support. However, since a high specific surface area is desirable to increase the release/adsorption properties, an attempt is made to produce the hybrid material in the form of an aerogel. Both the synthesis of the gel and its drying in supercritical CO2 are optimized in order to reach this goal. All the obtained samples are characterized in terms of their physico-chemical properties (infra-red spectroscopy, thermogravimetry) and structure (X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy) in order to investigate their composition and the interaction between the organic component (bMCD) and the inorganic one (silica)