Influence of torrefaction treatment on wood powder properties

International audienceTorrefaction is a thermal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass before gazification. This mild form of pyrolysis, carried out at temperatures between 200 and 300 °C, changes the physical and chemical properties of the material. In particular, it improves the feedstocks homogenization, enhances the fluidization ability and makes the grinding easier. Our project deals with the study of the effects of the combined torrefaction and grinding processes on (i) the main particle behavior: anhydrous weight loss (AWL), grindability, particle size distribution (ii) and the main powder behavior: bulk densities, flowability and compressibility. The studied parameters are (i) the species of the biomass (spruce and beech) (ii) the torrefaction temperature (iii) and the sieving grid size of the used knife mill (0.12 and 0.5 mm). The characterization of the particles and powders is performed using the following techniques: optical microscope and powder rheometer. The rheological behaviours of spruce torrefied at different temperatures and ground at different grid sizes are compared. It is shown that spruce torrefied at 240 °C and ground at 0.5 mm (S240/0.5) has rheological properties not as good as S240/0.12 and S300/0.5 that seem to have similar characteristics. Finally, further experiments are necessary to obtain a better morphological and rheological particle characterization

Series of Abelian and Non-Abelian States in C>1 Fractional Chern Insulators

We report the observation of a new series of Abelian and non-Abelian topological states in fractional Chern insulators (FCI). The states appear at bosonic filling nu= k/(C+1) (k, C integers) in several lattice models, in fractionally filled bands of Chern numbers C>=1 subject to on-site Hubbard interactions. We show strong evidence that the k=1 series is Abelian while the k>1 series is non-Abelian. The energy spectrum at both groundstate filling and upon the addition of quasiholes shows a low-lying manifold of states whose total degeneracy and counting matches, at the appropriate size, that of the Fractional Quantum Hall (FQH) SU(C) (color) singlet k-clustered states (including Halperin, non-Abelian spin singlet states and their generalizations). The groundstate momenta are correctly predicted by the FQH to FCI lattice folding. However, the counting of FCI states also matches that of a spinless FQH series, preventing a clear identification just from the energy spectrum. The entanglement spectrum lends support to the identification of our states as SU(C) color-singlets but offers new anomalies in the counting for C>1, possibly related to dislocations that call for the development of new counting rules of these topological states.Comment: 12 pages with supplemental material, 20 figures, published versio

Novel applications of long-established histochemical techniques to study nanoparticle-cell interactions at transmission electron microscopy

Alcian blue staining has been used to visualise nanoparticles at transmission electron microscop

Differential expression of papillomavirus L1 proteins encoded by authentic and codon modified L1 genes in methylcellulose-treated mouse keratinocytes

Papillomaviruses (PVs) are double-stranded DNA viruses that infect keratinocytes in differentiating epithelia and induce hyperproliferative lesions. Here, we used methylcellulose to induce cell differentiation of primary mouse keratinocytes (KCs) in in vitro culture and assessed the expression of authentic and codon-modified version of L1 capsid genes from two PV types (HPV6b and BPV1). Based on the quantitative RT-PCR analysis, methylcellulose treatment did not influence the transcriptional expression of both authentic and codon-modified L1 genes in KCs. Western blot showed that methylcellulose significantly increased the levels of the L1 proteins expressed from two authentic L1 genes. Conversely, methylcellulose dramatically decreased L1 protein expression in KCs transfected with two codon-modified L1 expression constructs. These data suggest that L1 protein expression is associated with KC differentiation induced by methylcellulose treatment and regulated at the post-transcriptional level

Alcian blue staining to study nanoparticle-cell interactions at transmission electron microscopy

Alcian blue staining has been used to visualise nanoparticles at transmission electron microscop

Synthesis of silica cryogel-glass fiber blanket by vacuum drying

none3Kunjalukkal Padmanabhan, Sanosh; Ul Haq, Ehsan; Licciulli, AntonioKUNJALUKKAL PADMANABHAN, Sanosh; UL HAQ, Ehsan; Licciulli, ANTONIO ALESSANDR

Hyaluronic acid-based nanocomplexes as an innovative therapeutic tool to treat myotonic dystrophy

Hyaluronic acid-based nanocomplexes have been synthesized and tested as an innovative therapeutic tool to treat myotonic dystroph

Buoux – Le Fort

Date de l'opération : 2007 - 2008 (PC) Inventeur(s) : Markiewicz Christian (UNIV) ; Hartmann-Virnich Andreas (UNIV) Deux importantes campagnes de déblaiement suivies d’une session d’étude ont inauguré en 2007 le programme de recherche pluriannuel et le projet de restauration du Fort de Buoux. Vaste ensemble défensif médiéval juché dans un contexte géologique grandiose sur un éperon détaché du Luberon, le Fort fut conçu selon les règles de l’éperon barré et offre un dispositif très élaboré qui..

Buoux – Le Fort

Date de l'opération : 2007 - 2008 (PC) Inventeur(s) : Markiewicz Christian (UNIV) ; Hartmann-Virnich Andreas (UNIV) Deux importantes campagnes de déblaiement suivies d’une session d’étude ont inauguré en 2007 le programme de recherche pluriannuel et le projet de restauration du Fort de Buoux. Vaste ensemble défensif médiéval juché dans un contexte géologique grandiose sur un éperon détaché du Luberon, le Fort fut conçu selon les règles de l’éperon barré et offre un dispositif très élaboré qui..