1,720,975 research outputs found
Sintesi e caratterizzazione di nuovi poliesteri alifatici a base di poli(butilen 1,4-cicloesandicarbossilato) per imballaggi alimentari
Nell’ottica di uno sviluppo ecosostenibile, la progettazione e la realizzazione di imballaggi alimentari devono necessariamente tener conto del destino del materiale al termine della sua vita utile. Negli ultimi anni, infatti, il considerevole incremento dei volumi dei rifiuti plastici e le difficoltà legate al loro smaltimento e riciclo hanno rappresentato le forze motrici per l’individuazione di soluzioni concrete ai problemi connessi alla gestione di tali scarti. Lo sviluppo di nuovi polimeri che soddisfino requisiti di degradabilità, compatibilità con l’ambiente di smaltimento e rilascio di prodotti di degradazione con un basso livello di tossicità, oltre che possedere proprietà fisico-meccaniche adatte per l’applicazione richiesta, offre una possibile soluzione a tali questioni ad oggi irrisolte.
Tra i polimeri biodegradabili, il poli(butilene 1,4-cicloesandicarbossilato) (PBCE) è un materiale di grande interesse, in quanto la presenza dell’anello alifatico nell’unità monomerica conferisce al materiale un’elevata cristallinità, una notevole stabilità termica e interessanti proprietà meccaniche. Per contro, l’eccessiva rigidità e fragilità del materiale e la sua lenta cinetica di biodegradazione lo rendono poco versatile e ne limitano notevolmente la gamma di possibili applicazioni. Per tali ragioni, si è scelto di incentrare il presente lavoro sullo sviluppo di copolimeri a base di PBCE, dotati sia di migliori proprietà meccaniche che di una maggiore velocità di degradazione. Lo scopo previsto è stato raggiunto mediante sintesi di due sistemi di copolimeri a blocchi contenenti eteroatomi lungo la catena principale
Alginate : un biopolymère polyvalent pour des matériaux fonctionnels avancés
Les alginates, des polysaccharides produits par les algues brunes, sont des copolymères à blocs linéaires, formés d’unités mannuronate (M) et guluronate (G). En raison de leur abondance naturelle, prix et propriétés physicochimiques avantageuses, les alginates représentent une classe de biopolymères très intéressante et relativement inexplorée pour des applications dans le domaine des matériaux avancés. Dans ce contexte, le présent travail vise à enrichir la gamme des applications des matériaux dérivés d’alginates, en exploitant les propriétés de cette classe de polysaccharides naturels. En particulier, la préparation de matériaux à base d'alginate pour la catalyse, l'adsorption et le domaine biomédical a été étudiée, avec des résultats encourageants dans toutes les applications testées. L'utilisation bénéfique de l'acide alginique en catalyse hétérogène a été démontrée, en tant que promoteur de réaction et support pour l’hétérogénéisation d'un organocatalyseur. L'activité du catalyseur a été trouvée très dépendante de l'accessibilité des groupes fonctionnels, mettant en évidence l’avantage de l’emploi de formulations plus accessibles. La texturation des alginates a été aussi avantageuse dans la préparation de matériaux pour applications en flux. Des mousses d'acide alginique, avec une structure hiérarchique macro-mésoporeuse, ont été développées à cet effet. Une caractérisation précise des matériaux a été réalisée, afin d'optimiser la procédure de préparation et de corréler les propriétés texturales obtenues avec les paramètres utilisés. L'intérêt dans l’utilisation de mousses à base d'acide alginique a été démontré dans une application modèle, l'adsorption de bleu de méthylène à partir de solutions aqueuses, à la fois en batch et en flux. La possibilité de modifier facilement les groupes fonctionnels de l’alginate, couplée avec la nature biocompatible et biodégradable de ces biopolymères, a finalement été exploitée pour le développement de gels auto-réparants, obtenus grâce à la formation de deux types d'interactions covalentes dynamiques : base de Schiff et ester de boronate. Les deux systèmes examinés ont présenté une remarquable habilité à se reconstruire après un dégât, même si l'ampleur de la reconstruction et la stabilité des gels étaient fortement dépendantes des paramètres de préparation des gels et des conditions environnementales utilisées. Les résultats obtenus dans le cadre de cette étude démontrent clairement comment la compréhension et un emploi conscient des propriétés physico-chimiques des alginates peuvent maximiser le potentiel que cette ressource durable dans le domaine de la chimie des matériaux.Alginates, polysaccharides produced by brown algae, are linear block-copolymers formed by mannuronate (M) and guluronate (G) units. Because of their huge natural abundance, cheapness and physicochemical properties, alginates represent a highly attractive and still relatively unexplored class of biopolymers for applications in the field of advanced materials. In this context, the present work aimed to enrich the range of possible applications of alginate-derived materials, making the most of the peculiar features of this class of natural polysaccharides. In particular, the preparation of alginate-based active materials to be employed in the catalysis, adsorption and biomedical field was studied, achieving encouraging results in all the tested applications. The beneficial use of alginic acid in heterogeneous catalysis, both as reaction promoter and as support for the heterogeneization of an organocatalyst, was demonstrated. The activity of the material was found highly dependent on the accessibility of the active functions, highlighting the advantage of employing more accessible alginate formulations. The texturation of alginates was further advantageous for the preparation of materials with improved flowability. Alginic acid foams, bearing a hierarchical macro-mesoporous structure were developed by means of a simple procedure. Accurate characterization was performed to optimize the preparation procedure and to correlate the textural properties of the obtained materials with the parameters used. The interest of the prepared alginic acid foams was demonstrated in a model application, the adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solutions, both in batch and in flow conditions. The possibility to easily modify alginate functional groups, coupled with the biocompatible and biodegradable nature of alginates, was finally employed for the development of self-healing gels, thanks to the formation of two types of dynamic covalent interactions: Schiff base and boronate ester bonds. Both the examined systems presented a marked ability to recover after damage, even if the extent of the recovery and the stability of the gels was highly dependent on the preparation parameters and environmental conditions used. The results obtained in the course of this study clearly demonstrate how a full comprehension and conscious employment of alginate physicochemical properties can maximize the potential of this sustainable resource in the field of material chemistry
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
“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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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