Kemijska svojstva i primjena premaznih materijala na bazi vode i organskih otapala na drvu

Wood finishes are used extensively to improve the aesthetic value and protect wood products from moisture. These organic coatings generally contain volatile organic compounds (VOC) as solvents that evaporate when the coatings cure over the surface. Due to strict legislations against these hazardous VOCs, the buyers across the globe are shifting towards products finished with water borne coats. Two of the most commonly used wood coatings in India are polyurethane and nitrocellulose (NC) lacquer. This paper aims at comparing these two wood coatings with their water borne counterparts. The study was conducted on the wood substrate of Melia dubia. Chemical characterization of the cured coats was attempted through FTIR spectroscopy. Physical appearances in terms of gloss and film thickness were also studied. Bands of urethane, urea and nitric groups were identified, which helped in understanding the changes in chemical structure of the finishes after curing. The thickness of the organic coatings was significantly higher than that of their water-borne counterparts. Gloss of water based coatings was observed to be lesser than that of their organic solvent based counterparts in either coating material. In case of lacquer, the reduction was up-to 33 %. whereas in case of PU, gloss dropped down by about 54 %.Premazni se materijali primjenjuju na drvu kako bi se očuvao njegov estetski izgled i drvni proizvodi zaštitili od vlage. Organski premazni materijali u osnovi sadržavaju hlapljive organske spojeve (HOS) kao otapala koja isparavaju dok premazni materijal otvrdnjava na površini drva. Zbog strogih propisa o tim opasnim hlapljivim organskim spojevima kupci diljem svijeta prelaze na vodene premazne materijale. Dva najčešće upotrebljavana premazna materijala za drvo u Indiji jesu poliuretanski i nitrocelulozni (NC) lak. Cilj rada bio je usporediti ta dva premazna materijala s istim premaznim materijalima na bazi vode. Istraživanje je provedeno na drvu Melia dubia. Kemijska karakterizacija otvrdnutih premaza provedena je primjenom FTIR spektroskopije. Također su proučavani sjaj i debljina filma. Identificirane su skupine uretana, ureje i nitratne skupine koje su pridonijele razumijevanju promjena u kemijskoj strukturi premaza nakon otvrdnjavanja. Debljina premaza na bazi organskih otapala bila je znatno veća od debljine premaza na bazi vode. Uočeno je da je sjaj premaza na bazi vode manji od sjaja premaza na bazi organskih otapala. Za NC lak to je smanjenje bilo do 33 %, a sjaj PU laka smanjio se za oko 54 %

Degradation of cysts of Havtmannella culbertsoni by culture filtrates of Alternaria sp.

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PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF AN ANTHRAQUINONE CONJUGATED DOTA DERIVATIVE AS SPECT AGENT

Objective: An anthraquinone derivative, DO3A-Act-AQ having DO3A (1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-1, 4, 7-trisacetic acid) scaffold is radio labeled with 99mTc radioisotope and evaluated as a SPECT imaging agent for tumor.Methods: Preliminary in-vivo evaluation of 99mTc-DO3A-Act-AQ radioconjugate including blood kinetics, biodistribution and gamma scintigraphic imaging is performed on BMG-1 tumor xenografted mice after successful optimization of the radiolabeling condition.Results: The radiotracer, 99mTc-DO3A-Act-AQ was produced in high radiochemical yield of>96% and specific activity of 3.62 MBq/nmol at pH 7.5 and 150 µg stannous chloride. Radioconjugate displayed excellent in-vitro and in-vivo stability with only ~2% transchelation of radiometal at 24 h p. i and rapid blood clearance from the system with t1/2(F) = 38.04±0.35 min and t1/2(S) = 5 h 30 min±0.67. Significant tumor-to-muscle ratio of>7 at 2 h p. i. in biodistribution and SPECT imaging studies in BMG-1 tumor xenografted mice suggested the tumor specificity of the radioconjugate.Conclusion: Stable radiocomplex formation of 99mTc-DO3A-Act-AQ and its significant tumor specificity demonstrated its future application as a promising SPECT radioligand for tumor imaging

Optical control of in-plane domain configuration and domain wall motion in ferroelectric and ferroelastic

The sensitivity of ferroelectric domain walls to external stimuli makes them functional entities in nanoelectronic devices. Specifically, optically driven domain reconfiguration with in-plane polarization is advantageous and thus highly sought. Here, we show the existence of in-plane polarized sub-domains imitating a single domain state and reversible optical control of its domain wall movement in a single-crystal of ferroelectric BaTiO3. Similar optical control in the domain configuration of non-polar ferroelastic material indicates long-range ferroelectric polarization is not essential for the optical control of domain wall movement. Instead, flexoelectricity is found to be an essential ingredient for the optical control of the domain configuration and hence, ferroelastic materials would be another possible candidate for nanoelectronic device applications

Supersymmetrization of horizontality condition: nilpotent symmetries for a free spinning relativistic particle

We derive the off-shell nilpotent and absolutely anticommuting Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) and anti-BRST symmetry transformations for a supersymmetric system of a free spinning relativistic particle within the framework of superfield approach to BRST formalism. A novel feature of our present investigation is the consistent and clear supersymmetric modification of the celebrated horizontality condition for the precise determination of the proper (anti-)BRST symmetry transformations for all the bosonic and fermionic dynamical variables of our theory which is considered on a (1, 2)-dimensional supermanifold parameterized by an even (bosonic) variable (\tau) and a pair of odd (fermionic) variables \theta and \bar\theta (with \theta^2 = \bar\theta^2 = 0,\; \theta \bar\theta + \bar\theta \theta = 0) of the Grassmann algebra. One of the most important features of our present investigation is the derivation of (anti-)BRST invariant Curci-Ferrari type restriction which turns out to be responsible for the absolute anticommutativity of the (anti-)BRST symmetry transformations and existence of the coupled (but equivalent) Lagrangians for the present theory of a supersymmetric system.Comment: LaTeX file, 24 pages, version to appear in EPJ

Comments on the dual-BRST symmetry

In view of a raging controversy on the topic of dual-Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (dual-BRST/co-BRST) and anti-co-BRST symmetry transformations in the context of four (3+1)-dimensional (4D) Abelian 2-form and 2D (non-)Abelian 1-form gauge theories, we attempt, in our present short note, to settle the dust by taking the help of mathematics of differential geometry, connected with the Hodge theory, which was the original motivation for the nomenclature of "dual-BRST symmetry" in our earlier set of works. It has been claimed, in a recent set of papers, that the co-BRST symmetries are not independent of the BRST symmetries. We show that the BRST and co-BRST symmetries are independent symmetries in the same fashion as the exterior and co-exterior derivatives are independent entities belonging to the set of de Rham cohomological operators of differential geometry.Comment: LaTeX file, 6 pages, journal versio

Increasing complexity and interactions of oxidative stress in chronic respiratory diseases: An emerging need for novel drug delivery systems

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Oxidative stress is intensely involved in enhancing the severity of various chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), infections and lung cancer. Even though there are various existing anti-inflammatory therapies, which are not enough to control the inflammation caused due to various contributing factors such as anti-inflammatory genes and antioxidant enzymes. This leads to an urgent need of novel drug delivery systems to combat the oxidative stress. This review gives a brief insight into the biological factors involved in causing oxidative stress, one of the emerging hallmark feature in CRDs and particularly, highlighting recent trends in various novel drug delivery carriers including microparticles, microemulsions, microspheres, nanoparticles, liposomes, dendrimers, solid lipid nanocarriers etc which can help in combating the oxidative stress in CRDs and ultimately reducing the disease burden and improving the quality of life with CRDs patients. These carriers improve the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability to the target site. However, there is an urgent need for translational studies to validate the drug delivery carriers for clinical administration in the pulmonary clinic

Metabolomics-Driven Mining of Metabolite Resources:Applications and Prospects for Improving Vegetable Crops

Vegetable crops possess a prominent nutri-metabolite pool that not only contributes to the crop performance in the fields, but also offers nutritional security for humans. In the pursuit of identifying, quantifying and functionally characterizing the cellular metabolome pool, biomolecule separation technologies, data acquisition platforms, chemical libraries, bioinformatics tools, databases and visualization techniques have come to play significant role. High-throughput metabolomics unravels structurally diverse nutrition-rich metabolites and their entangled interactions in vegetable plants. It has helped to link identified phytometabolites with unique phenotypic traits, nutri-functional characters, defense mechanisms and crop productivity. In this study, we explore mining diverse metabolites, localizing cellular metabolic pathways, classifying functional biomolecules and establishing linkages between metabolic fluxes and genomic regulations, using comprehensive metabolomics deciphers of the plant’s performance in the environment. We discuss exemplary reports covering the implications of metabolomics, addressing metabolic changes in vegetable plants during crop domestication, stage-dependent growth, fruit development, nutri-metabolic capabilities, climatic impacts, plant-microbe-pest interactions and anthropogenic activities. Efforts leading to identify biomarker metabolites, candidate proteins and the genes responsible for plant health, defense mechanisms and nutri-rich crop produce are documented. With the insights on metabolite-QTL (mQTL) driven genetic architecture, molecular breeding in vegetable crops can be revolutionized for developing better nutritional capabilities, improved tolerance against diseases/pests and enhanced climate resilience in plants