1,721,007 research outputs found
Sustainable Alternatives to Silicone in Pest Management: A Comparative Study of Biodegradable Oleogel Pheromone Dispensers for Plodia interpunctella
No full textPheromone dispensers are essential tools in integrated pest management (IPM) to reduce chemical pesticide use, particularly in food storage environments. Silicone-based dispensers (SD) are a gold standard due to their low cost and controlled pheromone release, but pose environmental/health risks related to plastic/chemicals pollution. Oleogel-based dispensers (OD) represent a biodegradable alternative, offering the advantage of pheromone incorporation during material preparation, ensuring uniform dispersion, controlled release kinetics, and reduced production steps. This study compared the performance of OD and SD over a 90-day period (at three time points: T0, T45, and T90) in attracting Plodia interpunctella. Both dispensers experienced efficacy reduction over time, but no statistically significant differences emerged between SD and OD. These results highlight OD as a promising, sustainable alternative to SD, with future work needed to optimize its formulation and validate its real-world applications
Green synthesis of stretchable ethyl cellulose film plasticized with transesterified sunflower oil
Full text linkSustainability and environmental consciousness drive research toward biomaterials and green synthesis. Traditional plasticizers derived from non-renewable sources have raised concerns due to their adverse impact on the environment and human health. As a result, there is a growing interest in replacing these traditional plasticizers with inexpensive naturally derived alternatives. One such promising compound that has gained considerable attention is vegetable oil. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using transesterified sunflower oil as a plasticizer for ethyl cellulose (EC), a widely used hydrophobic biopolymer. The transesterification reaction, accelerated by the catalyst NaOH, resulted in the formation of short chemical compounds that improved the plasticity of EC films. The mechanical studies demonstrated a remarkable elongation break of approximately 94 %, setting a new record for this type of film. The plasticization process was confirmed through rheological and XRD studies, revealing a notable reduction in the elastic chain and crystallinity of the EC structure. The proposed process advances the state of the art in ethyl cellulose plasticization and stands out for its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and environment-friendly approach. The synthesized films offer exciting possibilities for use in various applications including food packaging, transdermal drug delivery systems, and stretchable electronics
Biodegradable poly(lactic acid)/cellulose-based superabsorbent hydrogel composite material as water and fertilizer reservoir in agricultural applications
No full textThe work presents a fully degradable superabsorbent composite material to be used in agricultural and horticultural applications. It is designed to retain and release fertilizer solutions to the soil in a controlled manner, permitting resource optimization. Because of its ability to absorb and release large amounts of saline water, a natural superabsorbent hydrogel derived from cellulose was chosen. Potassium nitrate was chosen to model the fertilizer. Poly(lactic acid) was added to the final composition in order to delay solution release. The composite material was obtained using easily available and low-cost starting materials and using a simple manufacturing process, using a standard mixer. After being analyzed for morphological (scanning electron microscopy), physical (X-ray diffraction), chemical (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy), and thermal properties (thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry), the material was tested using two different Mediterranean cultivations (Pomodoro di Morciano di Leuca and Cicoria Otrantina) and two different kinds of soil (red and white soils). The analysis revealed different water release characteristics for different soils. These findings have been confirmed by measuring plant growth for both species, as well as fruit yield of the tomatoes. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47546
Experimental Investigation and Theoretical Modelling of the Nonlinear Acoustical Behaviour of a Liver Tissue and Comparison with a Tissue Mimicking Hydrogel
No full textMonitoring of Drug Release via Intra Body Communication with an Edible Pill
No full textOral drug administration provides a convenient and patient-compliant way for drug delivery, especially for chronic diseases and prolonged pharmacological treatments. However, due to the repetitiveness of such therapeutic approach, the patients are led to neglect/forget the therapy affecting the healthcare delivery. Indeed, the non-adherence to pharmacological prescriptions and the unknown amount of real-time drug release result in a non-compliant therapeutic drug level over the protracted therapies. The proposed technology will enable the monitoring of both pharmacological adherence and real-time drug release. The approach exploits a passive intrabody communication (IBC) activation in order to enable an edible pill, realized starting from food additives and food-grade materials, to monitor pharmacological adherence. Following activation, the signal is modulated by IBC coupling switching triggered by pill degradation in a gastrointestinal tract, resulting in a monitored drug release. The proof-of-concept is designed for a targeted release and monitoring of Metformin in the intestine. The system shows an in vitro limit of cumulative drug release detection of 18 μg mL−1 and a limit of real-time drug release detection of 2 μg mL−1 min−1. This platform represents the first solution to monitor passive drug release in real-time, from intake to complete absorption, enabling unique and long-sought healthcare therapy and treatment opportunity
Wearable sensor for in-vivo skin hydration monitoring
No full textSkin hydration is the water content within skin tissues and its monitoring is of crucial importance in many contexts. However, at the current state-of-the-art, there is a lack of objective, non-invasive and wearable monitoring systems for the correct evaluation of skin moisture. To this purpose, in this paper, a new wearable punctual sensing element (SE) was designed and validated to sense variation of skin hydration of the body, even in the case of area as small as a few millimetres. In particular, a truncated customized open-ended coaxial probe was designed. As a matter of fact, the dielectric properties of the skin can be related to the frequency domain (FD) response of the monitoring system. In this regard, full-wave simulations on human phantoms were carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the system. This strategy, in combination with low-cost miniaturized instrumentation, has potential for achieving a fully wearable system for real-time monitoring of skin hydration
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
A possible method to avoid skin effect in polymeric scaffold produced through thermally induced phase separation
Full text linkScaffold's morphology and in particular pore architecture is a key parameter for cell viability and tissue regeneration. Usually, morphology is managed through Thermally Induced Phase Separation (TIPS) consisting of controlled quenching and freeze-drying to remove ice crystals to create porosity. Nevertheless, the so-called skin effect, a less-/non-porous layer, usually occurring at scaffold's air–liquid or material-mold interface. Skin effect reduces scaffold's performance then the layer have to cut out with consequent loss of material and damage risks. Here, it is presented a possible method to avoid skin effect at mold-polymer interface in biopolymer-based scaffolds. It is based on producing scaffolds not directly in a mold but on a previously frozen distilled water surface. SEM analysis showed the absence of skinned surfaces and a uniform pore pattern in shape and size
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