Related variety and regional growth in Italy

Research & Development, Multinational Firms, Location Strategies

Oxynitride glass fibers

Research at the Army Materials Technology Laboratory (AMTL) and elsewhere has shown that many glass properties including elastic modulus, hardness, and corrosion resistance are improved markedly by the substitution of nitrogen for oxygen in the glass structure. Oxynitride glasses, therefore, offer exciting opportunities for making high modulus, high strength fibers. Processes for making oxynitride glasses and fibers of glass compositions similar to commercial oxide glasses, but with considerable enhanced properties, are discussed. We have made glasses with elastic moduli as high as 140 GPa and fibers with moduli of 120 GPa and tensile strengths up to 2900 MPa. AMTL holds a U.S. patent on oxynitride glass fibers, and this presentation discusses a unique process for drawing small diameter oxynitride glass fibers at high drawing rates. Fibers are drawn through a nozzle from molten glass in a molybdenum crucible at 1550 C. The crucible is situated in a furnace chamber in flowing nitrogen, and the fiber is wound in air outside of the chamber, making the process straightforward and commercially feasible. Strengths were considerably improved by improving glass quality to minimize internal defects. Though the fiber strengths were comparable with oxide fibers, work is currently in progress to further improve the elastic modulus and strength of fibers. The high elastic modulus of oxynitride glasses indicate their potential for making fibers with tensile strengths surpassing any oxide glass fibers, and we hope to realize that potential in the near future

Additive Manufacturing Process Investigation for the Fabrication of Composite Scaffolds for Soft Tissue Application

Additive manufacturing has been investigated and employed in the bio-medical domain for the fabrication of various devices and scaffolds. In various soft tissue engineering applications, multi-functional multi-material scaffolds are required for cell proliferation, structural integrity, bio-compatibility and tissue regeneration. In this research, an additive manufacturing methodology is developed to allow the fabrication of bio-composite scaffolds using a multi-modality in-house built platform. The researched materials for printing are Poly-L-Lactic Acid (PLLA) and a newly developed photo-curable radiopaque polymer called Rylar (Poly glycerole sebacate fumarate gadodiamide) mixed with a cross-linking agent Poly (Ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA). The developed methodology uses a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technique to print PLLA and Direct Ink Writing (DIW) or Viscous Extrusion (VE) to process Rylar in-situ on the same platform. Controlled process parameters of print speed, feed speed, UV intensity, and nozzle to bed distance were investigated to fabricate scaffolds. Multi-layered composite scaffolds with two materials were successfully printed. Further investigation is proposed towards the fabrication of bio-scaffolds with more layers of each material for soft tissue application such as tracheomalacia

Current Biomedical Applications of 3D-Printed Hydrogels

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has revolutionized the production of physical 3D objects by transforming computer-aided design models into layered structures, eliminating the need for traditional molding or machining techniques. In recent years, hydrogels have emerged as an ideal 3D printing feedstock material for the fabrication of hydrated constructs that replicate the extracellular matrix found in endogenous tissues. Hydrogels have seen significant advancements since their first use as contact lenses in the biomedical field. These advancements have led to the development of complex 3D-printed structures that include a wide variety of organic and inorganic materials, cells, and bioactive substances. The most commonly used 3D printing techniques to fabricate hydrogel scaffolds are material extrusion, material jetting, and vat photopolymerization, but novel methods that can enhance the resolution and structural complexity of printed constructs have also emerged. The biomedical applications of hydrogels can be broadly classified into four categories-tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, 3D cell culture and disease modeling, drug screening and toxicity testing, and novel devices and drug delivery systems. Despite the recent advancements in their biomedical applications, a number of challenges still need to be addressed to maximize the use of hydrogels for 3D printing. These challenges include improving resolution and structural complexity, optimizing cell viability and function, improving cost efficiency and accessibility, and addressing ethical and regulatory concerns for clinical translation

Internationalisation of business investments in R+D and analysis of their economic impact (BERD Flows)

This report presents and analyses the internationalization of business R+D investments in Europe in light of earlier work. Using established metrics, a composite approach is employed to better understand the distribution and development of this important phenomena over time. Core and secondary data-sources are used to analyse the developments in the context of 35 countries and of 7 sectors. Moreover, the report applies a set of innovative methods to analyse factors that motivate cross-country R+D investments and their effects on host countries. In light of European policy priorities, the report aims to improve the evidence base for RD+I policy making. It discusses policy conclusions, including ways to improve the quality of international R+D expenditure data.European Commissio

2-[2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenylamino)thiazol-4-yl]acetic acid (Activator-3) is a potent activator of AMPK

AMPK is considered as a potential high value target for metabolic disorders. Here, we present the molecular modeling, in vitro and in vivo characterization of Activator-3, 2-[2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenylamino)thiazol-4-yl]acetic acid, an AMP mimetic and a potent pan-AMPK activator. Activator-3 and AMP likely share common activation mode for AMPK activation. Activator-3 enhanced AMPK phosphorylation by upstream kinase LKB1 and protected AMPK complex against dephosphorylation by PP2C. Molecular modeling analyses followed by in vitro mutant AMPK enzyme assays demonstrate that Activator-3 interacts with R70 and R152 of the CBS1 domain on AMPK γ subunit near AMP binding site. Activator-3 and C2, a recently described AMPK mimetic, bind differently in the γ subunit of AMPK. Activator-3 unlike C2 does not show cooperativity of AMPK activity in the presence of physiological concentration of ATP (2 mM). Activator-3 displays good pharmacokinetic profile in rat blood plasma with minimal brain penetration property. Oral treatment of High Sucrose Diet (HSD) fed diabetic rats with 10 mg/kg dose of Activator-3 once in a day for 30 days significantly enhanced glucose utilization, improved lipid profiles and reduced body weight, demonstrating that Activator-3 is a potent AMPK activator that can alleviate the negative metabolic impact of high sucrose diet in rat model

Low Levels of Genetic Divergence across Geographically and Linguistically Diverse Populations from India

Ongoing modernization in India has elevated the prevalence of many complex genetic diseases associated with a western lifestyle and diet to near-epidemic proportions. However, although India comprises more than one sixth of the world's human population, it has largely been omitted from genomic surveys that provide the backdrop for association studies of genetic disease. Here, by genotyping India-born individuals sampled in the United States, we carry out an extensive study of Indian genetic variation. We analyze 1,200 genome-wide polymorphisms in 432 individuals from 15 Indian populations. We find that populations from India, and populations from South Asia more generally, constitute one of the major human subgroups with increased similarity of genetic ancestry. However, only a relatively small amount of genetic differentiation exists among the Indian populations. Although caution is warranted due to the fact that United States–sampled Indian populations do not represent a random sample from India, these results suggest that the frequencies of many genetic variants are distinctive in India compared to other parts of the world and that the effects of population heterogeneity on the production of false positives in association studies may be smaller in Indians (and particularly in Indian-Americans) than might be expected for such a geographically and linguistically diverse subset of the human population

A Photometric Study of Brightest Cluster Galaxies and Intracluster Light

Using deep Band r imaging of a sample of 26 clusters, we model the surface brightness of the central cD galaxies in each cluster using two-dimensional analytical fits. We find strong evidence, using X2 tests and an analysis of Petrosian profiles, for two components in the surface brightness profile and identify the outer component as being produced by unbound stars orbiting in the global cluster potential. We measure the structural properties of this intracluster light (ICL), as well as its luminosity, colour and spatial distribution and compare these with cluster masses and radii derived from existing X-ray measurements and cluster richnesses calculated from the fitting of colourmagnitude relations to the cluster galaxy population. We find that the diffuse light contributes rv 17% of the optical emission in the r band, a value much lower than suggested by current simulations. The total luminosity of the ICL correlates with cluster mass and the cluster X-ray luminosity, and the effective radius of the ICL component shows an even stronger correlation with the X-ray radius, indicating that the growth of the intracluster population is intimately linked with the growth of the cluster. We argue that tidal stripping of cluster galaxies cannot be the dominant process building up the ICL. The parameter relations seen, along with colour analyses, suggest that it is the liberation of stars from the mergers of luminous galaxies, both in the cluster and from infalling groups of galaxies, that is the main factor causing the growth of the diffuse light in clusters.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo