Superhydrophobic Surface by Replication of Laser Micromachined Pattern in Epoxy/Alumina Nanoparticle Composite

Superhydrophobic surfaces were obtained by superposition of microstructure—defined by replication of laser micromachined masters, with nanostructure—created by durable epoxy/γ-Al₂O₃ nanoparticle composite, used for replication. Hierarchical surface topography thus obtained consisted of hexagonally spaced microcavities and nanoparticle agglomerates, exposed on the replica surface by radio frequency (RF) air plasma etching. Surface topography was further enhanced by rims around the microcavity edges, resulting from nanosecond laser micromachining defects in aluminum masters. Subsequent wet chemical hydrophobization with 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorotetradecyltriethoxysilane (PFTDTES) provided superhydrophobic behavior in replicas with a microcavity spacing of 30 μm, as indicated by a water contact angle of 160° and a sliding angle of 8°. The preparation method is relatively simple, inexpensive, and potentially scalable.This work was supported by the National Science Centre of Poland through projects nos. 2011/03/N/ST8/05879 and UMO-2012/05/B/ST8/02876. The authors are grateful to Professor Weimin Liu and Professor Feng Zhou of the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, for making the laser micromachining, JEOL SEM, and Drop Shape Analysis equipment available

Wpływ płci na relacje konfliktu między życiem osobistym i zawodowym z zadowoleniem z pracy i zadowoleniem z małżeństwa

Problematyka konfliktu między życiem osobistym i zawodowym należy do chętnie podejmowanych tematów badań. W tym artykule zamierzano sprawdzić, w jaki sposób konflikt między tymi sferami wpływa na emocjonalny i poznawczy wymiar zadowolenia z pracy oraz zadowolenia z małżeństwa, a także czy płeć biologiczna jest moderatorem tych relacji. Badaniu poddano 218 kobiet i 218 mężczyzn z zastosowaniem następujących technik badawczych: Konflikty: Praca– Rodzina i Rodzina–Praca (P–R/R–P), Skala Afektu w Pracy (JAS), Arkusz Opisu Pracy (AOP) oraz Kwestionariusz Komunikacji Małżeńskiej (KKM). Otrzymane wyniki wskazują, że na zadowolenie z pracy i z małżeństwa wpływa zarówno konflikt P–R, jak i konflikt R–P. Płeć biologiczna moderuje tylko oddziaływanie konfliktu R–P na zadowolenie z przełożonych oraz konfliktu P–R na zaangażowanie partnera. Negatywny związek konfliktów z zadowoleniem z pracy i ze związku rodzi potrzebę inwestowania w programy zrównoważonego wzajemnego oddziaływania pracy i rodziny, bez konieczności ich różnicowania z uwagi na płeć

The influence of the chain length and the functional group steric accessibility of thiols on the phase transfer efficiency of gold nanoparticles from water to toluene

The papers were published with the financial support from the budget of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.This paper describes the influence of the chain length and the functional group steric accessibility of thiols modifiers on the phase transfer process efficiency of water synthesized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to toluene. The following thiols were tested: 1-decanethiol, 1,1-dimethyldecanethiol, 1-dodecanethiol, 1-tetradecanethiol and 1-oktadecanethiol. Nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized in water were precisely characterized before the phase transfer process using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The optical properties of AuNPs before and after the phase transfer were studied by the UV-Vis spectroscopy. Additionally, the particle size and size distribution before and after the phase transfer of nanoparticles were investigated using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). It turned out that the modification of NPs surface was not effective in the case of 1,1-dimethyldecanethiol, probably because of the difficult steric accessibility of the thiol functional group to NPs surface. Consequently, the effective phase transfer of AuNPs from water to toluene did not occur. In toluene the most stable were nanoparticles modified with 1-decanethiol, 1-dodecanethiol and 1-tetradecanethiol.This work was supported by FP7-NMP-2010-SMALL-4 program (HYMEC), project number 263073. Scientific work supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, funds for science in 2011–2014 allocated for the cofounded international project

Inhibitors of Bacterial Collagenase

This invention relates to amino acid derivatives that are useful as inhibitors of bacterial collagenase. . . To read the remainder of this abstract, please download this patent

Narrative Gamification as a Method of Increasing Sales Performance: A Field Experimental Study

There is ongoing dispute whether gamification is an effective tool in increasing sales performance. Furthermore, there is a lack of evidence of gamification being a job performance management tool. After the discussion of elements of gamification (with a focus on narration) and the mechanism of this procedure, a field study was conducted to investigate whether implementing narrative gamification within a company will increase sales performance. The study involved 81 employees of two comparable franchise units. Over a period of two months, in one franchisee the employees were working on their regular basis, while narrative gamification took place in the second franchisee. The basic measures were the sales volume data and sales change rates of the two telecommunications products. Tests for difference and effect size were employed. The results of the intervention conducted have shown that narrative gamification had a positive impact on sales performance after two months. Not only did the sales performance in the gamified franchisee increase, but the increase exceeded that of the other franchisee