Electric memory effects in styrene-butadiene rubber, containing electric inclusions of highly aromatic oil

It was determined that samples of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), containing highly aromatic oil, exhibit memory effects giving rise to dynamic elastic modulus, damping and internal stresses degree which can be tailored depending on the applied electric field strength. The capability and stability of the interaction process between aligned neighbor dipoles for exhibiting a memory effect, once the aligning electric field was removed are studied. It is determined that depending on the spatial arrangement and the amount of electric charge of the dipoles, this interaction is able to promote a memory effect which keeps the alignment between them. This electrostatic interaction plays the role of a counteracting effect for keeping the alignment, which was called electroelasticity. The results from the developed model were applied successfully to SBR composite samples for explaining the memory effects recorded from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements under electric field. In addition, the model of the electric inclusion based on the inclusion theory for continuous media, was applied to determine the degree of internal stresses in the dielectric composite material due to the external applied electric field. In addition, from the coupling between the model developed here and simple issues related to the mechanical properties of composite materials, a procedure for determining the maximum possible gap between the electric dipoles in composite dielectric materials is also shown.Fil: Mocellini, Ricardo Raúl. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Bonifacich, Federico Guillermo. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Lambri, Fernando Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Lambri, Mariel Antonella. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Zelada, Griselda Irene. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Lambri, Osvaldo Agustín. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica; Argentin

Modelling the implementation and acceptance of the Police National Database in UK police forces

The Police National Database (PND) was launched in June 2011 as a direct recommendation from the Bichard Inquiry. Its main purpose is to provide a national platform to share police information and for the first time, the PND will provide a single view of data held in police intelligence, custody, crime, child and domestic abuse systems across the UK. The PND will not replace local police systems, but it will allow all forces to see and share information - that until now has only been available within individual force boundaries

Damping of the woodwind instrument reed material Arundo donax L

The viscoelastic properties (E', G', tanΦ, δ) of Arundo donax (AD) and a polypropylene-beech fiber composite (PPC) were measured from RT to 580K for various frequencies and strains. E' of AD varies between 5250-6250MPa depending on ageing at RT while E'(RT)=2250MPa of PPC is signifcantly lower. E' of the AD is higher than E' of PPC in the whole investigated temperature range with the exception of AD after a heat treatment up to 575K. Damping spectra exhibit peaks around 340K (Q=234kJ/mol) and 415K for the PPC related to relaxations in the crystalline part of polypropylene and the relaxation at melting temperature. For AD damping peaks were found at 350K (Q=320kJ/mol) related to the glass-rubber transition of lignin, at 420K due to a reorganization in the amorphous phase of lignin, at 480K related to micro-Brownian motions in the non-crystalline region of cell-wall polymers and reduction of the crystallinity of cellulose, and at 570K due to the polymeric compounds of wood and/or a decomposition of lignin. The course of E' and tanΦ of AD and PPC is comparable from 20-200Hz, whereas tanΦ of AD is lower than tanΦ of PPC while E' of AD is higher than E' of PPC.Fil: Weidenfeller, Bernd. Technische Universitat Clausthal; AlemaniaFil: Lambri, Osvaldo Agustin F.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; ArgentinaFil: Bonifacich, Federico Guillermo. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Arlic, Uwe. Technische Universitat Clausthal; AlemaniaFil: Gargicevich, Damian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; Argentin

Food technologies and developing countries: a processing method for making edible the highly toxic cassava roots

In addition to be a possible solution to the food crisis becoming a productive model to follow, the development of a process and/or a technique of food production in a developing country could create advantages from an industrial point of view due to the use of alternative raw materials, which have a potentially high competitiveness. In developing countries, agriculture is able to offer a variety of products making up the daily diet and provide products with potential that could make up for many nutritional deficiencies to which resident populations are subject. Food technology applications on cereals, tubers, roots, fruits, and by-products from related processes are reported at aiming to obtain finished and semi-finished foods and/or basic ingredients meeting the food safety criteria. In detail, this study aims to generate a processing method for the white bitter roots collected in a rural area of Burundi with a cyanogenic glycoside content >400 mg cyanide equivalent/kg dry weight. A standardised procedure consisting of peeling, grating, and oven drying at 60°C, with or without fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was successfully tested

Relationship between Periodontal Disease Index and Low Birth Weight Babies in Pregnant Women with Periodontitis

Objective: To identify the relationship between periodontitis in pregnant women through the periodontal disease index (PDI) and low birth weight babies.Methods: A case-control study was conducted to determine the relationship between periodontitis in pregnant women through the periodontal disease index (PDI) and the low birth weight babies (LBW). The participants were mothers with periodontitis and non-periodontitis mothers aged 20–35 years who gave birth in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology-Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung in the period of December to January 2005. Results: Based on the chisquare test results a highly significant relationship between periodontitis and low birth weight (p=0.002) was found. The Odd’s ratio showed that the risk of low birth weight in pregnant women with periodontitis was 15.58 times higher compared to those who did not suffer from periodontitis. The periodontal disease index has an accuracy of 88.6% in predicting the incidence of LBW. It strongly influenced the incidence of LBW with a high Odd’s ratio of 28.0. Pregnant women who suffer from periodontitis with a PDI > 3.25, have 19.2 times higher risk for delivering babies with LBW compared to the non-periodontitis mothers. Conclusions: The loss of attachment affects the possibility of delivering LBW babies.Keywords: Periodontitis, periodontal disease index, low birth weight DOI: 10.15850/ijihs.v4n1.681

Oleic acid induced alterations in pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, a consequence of a pre-programmed dependence on lipid synthesis

Cancer cells demonstrate elevated levels of de novo lipogenesis (DNL), which represent a component of the reprogramming of tumour metabolism, driving uncontrolled cell growth. In vitro inhibition of this pathway results in reduced cell proliferation, viability and tumour size, however therapeutic attempts at successfully targeting this pathway are limited. Following an initial phenotypic characterization of a panel of pancreatic cell lines (BxPC-3, AsPC-1, Capan-1 and MiaPaca-2), along with a well characterized hepatic cell line (HepG2), cells were exposed to long term incubation (120 hours) with 300µM oleic acid (OA) and effects on cell proliferation were determined. BxPC-3 cells demonstrated a significant reduction of 16% in cell proliferation (p<0.05) as demonstrated by a live cell analysis system. These results were confirmed using an independent cell tracking staining assay which showed a 14% decrease in proliferation at 48 hours. Several approaches were utilised to determine the mechanisms responsible for this reduced proliferation. On supplementation with OA, all pancreatic cancer cell lines showed a reduction in glucose derived carbon contribution towards palmitate enrichment, however only BxPC-3 cells showed an increase in labelled glutamine derived palmitic acid enrichment when compared to MiaPaca-2. Extensive comparative studies were performed between MiaPaca-2 and BxPC-3 cells, since MiaPaca-2 cells are Kras positive, whereas BxPC-3 are Kras negative, which consequently results to distinct metabolic phenotypes between the two cell lines. Crosstalk between DNL and the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) was investigated by measuring glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and shown to be reduced in BxPC-3 cells (~50%) following the addition of OA, thus perturbing a major NADPH generating pathway for this cell line. However, although NADPH/NADP ratios did not seem to be affected by the addition of OA for the pancreatic cancer cell lines, NADPH labelling by [3-2H] glucose and its utilization by DNL through the measurement of labelled palmitate showed reduced levels (-20%) of labeled palmitate following the addition of OA in BxPC-3 and MiaPaca-2 cells. The dependency of the pancreatic cell lines to β�oxidation was indirectly measured by incorporating the carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1) inhibitor etomoxir with the OA supplementation experiments. Results showed growth arrest could be rescued with the addition of OA to all cell lines although levels of the β-oxidation enzymes ACADVL and ACADM were expressed at much lower levels in BxPC-3 compared to MiaPAca-2 cells (2-3 fold lower), possibly indicating less reliance on the β-oxidation pathway in this cell line. This study has potentially identified a metabolic weakness of BxPC-3 cells based on their metabolic phenotype. The data reveals the interdependency of DNL on the PPP pathway and the key role of maintaining a homeostatic balance regarding NADP+/NADPH levels. Further understanding and exploitation of these metabolic weakness may provide novel therapeutic strategies that can be developed for targeting cell survival

Adolescents, Social Media and Self Assessment. A contribution to the validation of the Social Self Assessment Scale (SSAS)

openL’obiettivo principale di questa tesi magistrale è di comprendere come l’uso dei social media influenzi gli adolescenti nella valutazione di se stessi. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo è stato necessario somministrare la Social Self Assessment Scale (SSAS), un questionario strutturato per cercare di comprendere come le attività digitali siano in relazione con il modo in cui gli adolescenti si percepiscono e si auto valutano. Tale progetto ha coinvolto un campione composto da 120 adolescenti e giovani adulti di età compresa tra i 14 e i 27 anni, di cui 45 maschi e 75 femmine. Lo studio potrà dunque contribuire ad incrementare le nostre conoscenze sulle implicazioni che l’utilizzo eccessivo dei SNS ha sullo sviluppo di comportamenti disfunzionali e sul benessere degli adolescenti.The main objective of this thesis is to understand how the use of social media influences adolescents in the self-assessment. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to administer the Social Self-Assessment Scale (SSAS) to understand how digital activities are related to the way adolescents perceive and evaluate themselves. This project involved a sample made up of 120 adolescents and young adult aged between 14 and 27, 45 males and 75 were females. The study will contribute to increasing our knowledge of the implications that excessive use of SNS has on the development of dysfunctional behaviors and the well-being of adolescents

The challenges and complexities of implementing and evaluating the benefits of an IT system: the UK Police National Database

This paper discusses the various challenges and complexities involved in evaluating the benefits of an information system – the Police National Database. The paper begins by outlining background events in UK policing which lead to the Bichard Inquiry in 2004. The PND is a direct recommendation from the Inquiry, and represents one of the most important developments in recent policing history. The organisational context of implementing the PND is examined to discuss the various business change issues that are apparent, as well as the cultural changes in policing practices. The national methodology for benefits realisation is discussed, and this alluded to the complex context of evaluating evolutionary information systems such as the PND, and the challenges involved in measuring the system’s productivity and performance. Previous research carried out in relation to evaluating information systems, has enabled the development of distinct methodologies, and have assisted in identifying appropriate evaluation metrics for the PND. The paper concludes by summarising the complexities of performance and evaluation in information technology, and how future research planning will determine the development of an appropriate and robust evaluation framework for the PND

Influence of defects on the irreversible phase transition in the Fe-Pd doped with Co and Mn

The appearance of BCT martensite in Fe-Pd-based ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, which develops at lower temperatures than the thermoelastic martensitic transition, deteriorates the shape memory properties. In a previous work performed in Fe70Pd30, it was shown that a reduction in defects density reduces the non thermoelastic FCT-BCT transformation temperature. In the present work, the influence of quenched-in-defects upon the intensity and temperature of the thermoelastic martensitic (FCC-FCT) and the non thermoelastic (FCT-BCT) transitions in Fe-Pd doped with Co and Mn is studied. Differential scanning calorimetric and mechanical spectroscopy studies demonstrate that a reduction in the dislocation density the stability range of the FCC-FCT reversible transformation in Fe67Pd30Co3 and Fe66.8Pd30.7Mn2.5 ferromagnetic shape memory alloys.Fil: Bonifacich, Federico Guillermo. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica. Laboratorio de Extensión e Investigación en Materiales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lambri, Osvaldo Agustin F.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica. Laboratorio de Extensión e Investigación en Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Gargicevich, Damian. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica. Laboratorio de Extensión e Investigación en Materiales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Zelada, Griselda Irene. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Ingeniería y Agrimensura. Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica. Laboratorio de Extensión e Investigación en Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Pérez Landazábal, J. I.. Universidad Publica de Navarra; EspañaFil: Recarte, V.. Universidad Publica de Navarra; EspañaFil: Sánchez Alarcos, V.. Universidad Publica de Navarra; Españ