Search results for: DEGRADATION
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Corrosion of evaporator tubes in low emission steam boilers
PublicationPurpose of this paper is to reveal the mechanisms of corrosion processes of outer surfaces of low-emission steam boiler evaporator tubes. Examinations were performed to find the reasons of different corrosion susceptibility of tubes situated at combustion chamber on various levels. Examinations were conducted on several segments of 57 x 5.0 mm evaporator tubes made of 16M (16Mo3) steel grade. Segments were taken from level of...
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Quality of bottled waters
PublicationBottled water is a product that is purchased by annually increasing numbers of people of all age groups. The quality control of mineral waters tends to concentrate on the determination of anion and cation levels, since it is these that govern the taste, smell and possible medicinal properties of the water. The constantly rising sales of mineral waters bring with them the ever increasing exploitation of their sources. The consequences...
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Application of vibrational spectroscopy, thermal analyses and X-Ray diffraction in the rapid evaluation of the stability in solid-state of ranitidine, famotidine and cimetidine
PublicationThis paper reports the study on applicability of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), near-infrared (NIR) and Raman spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the estimation of the chemical stability and photostability of histamine H2-receptor antagonist substances. Ranitidine hydrochloride (RAN), famotidine (FAM) and cimetidine (CIM) were tested and differences in sensitivity were measured...
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Internal imaging of concrete fracture based on elastic waves and ultrasound computed tomography
PublicationThe condition assessment of concrete structures belongs to the greatest challenges of non-destructive testing. Monitoring the fracture process of concrete and detecting cracks at the earliest possible stage is a vital aspect to ensure the safety of civil engineering objects. The use of ultrasound tomography enables imaging the internal structure of a tested element. This study aims at the visualization of fracture damage in concrete...
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How Important Is Research on Pollution Levels in Antarctica? Historical Approach, Difficulties and Current Trends
PublicationDespite the fact that Antarctica is a continent notably free from large negative impact of human activities, literature data can be the basis for concluding that this is not an area free from anthropogenic pollutants. Pollutants, which are identified in various elements of the environment of Antarctica, are mostly connected with long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) and deposition in this area. The study presents: a historical...
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The methylome and transcriptome of fetal skin: implications for scarless healing
PublicationAim: Fetal skin is known to heal without scarring. In mice, the phenomenon is observed until the 16–17 day of gestation – the day of transition from scarless to normal healing. The study aims to identify key methylome and transcriptome changes following the transition. Materials & methods: Methylome and transcriptome profiles were analyzed in murine dorsal skin using microarray approach. Results & conclusion: The genes associated...
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Effect of culinary treatment on chnages in the contents of selected nutrients and non-nutrients in curly kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala)
PublicationKale has a great nutritive value, very high antioxidant activity and pro-healthypotential. The level of phytochemicals and related bioactive compounds arestrongly dependent on pre and postharvest stages of production chain (domestic orindustrial). The study investigated changes in the levels of vitamin C, b-carotene,total polyphenols, antioxidant activity, degradation products of glucosinolates aswell as nitrates and nitrites in...
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Modeling and Evaluation of Electric Treeing Phenomena in Polymeric Cable Insulation
PublicationThis paper investigates the treeing phenomenon in polymeric materials such as crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) that is widely used in medium and high voltage power cables as primary insulation. The modeling of electrical tree growth in the insulation from its initiation to breakdown is significant research work that illustrates the discharge dynamics and its impact on aging process in polymeric insulation. This study utilizes pulse...
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Hydrogen effects in duplex stainless steel welded joints - electrochemical studies
PublicationIn this work results on the influence of hydrogen on passivity and corrosion resistance of 2205 duplex stainless steel (DSS) welded joints are described. The results were discussed by taking into account three different areas on the welded joint: weld metal (WM), heat-affected zone (HAZ) and parent metal. The corrosion resistance was qualified with the polarization curves registered in a synthetic sea water. The conclusion is that,...
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Rapid Design Tuning of Miniaturized Rat-Race Couplers Using Regression-Based Equivalent Network Surrogates
PublicationA simple technique for fast design tuning of compact rat-race couplers is presented. Our approach involves equivalent circuit representation, corrected by nonlinear functions of frequency with coefficients extracted through nonlinear regression. At the same time, the tuning process connects two levels of coupler representation: EM simulation of the entire circuit and re-optimization of the coupler building blocks (slow-wave cells...
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Composites of tin oxide and different carbonaceous materials as negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries
PublicationAbstract Tin and tin oxide have been considered as suitable materials with high theoretical capacity for lithium ion batteries. Their low cost, high safety and other technical benefits placed them as promising replacements for graphite negative electrodes. The problem to overcome with tin oxide, as well as with other metallic materials, is high volume changes during alloying/dealloying, subsequent pulverization, delamination from...
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Performance and Stability in H2S of SrFe0.75Mo0.25O3-δ as Electrode in Proton Ceramic Fuel Cells
PublicationThe H2S-tolerance of SrFe0.75Mo0.25O3-δ (SFM) electrodes has been investigated in symmetric proton ceramic fuel cells (PCFC) with BaZr0.8Ce0.1Y0.1O3-δ (BZCY81) electrolyte. The ionic conductivity of the electrolyte under wet reducing conditions was found to be insignificantly affected in the presence of up to 5000 ppm H2S. The fuel cell exhibited an OCV of about 0.9 V at 700 °C, which dropped to about 0.6 V and 0.4 V upon exposure...
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Recurrent potential pulse technique for improvement of glucose sensing ability of 3D polypyrrole
PublicationIn this work, a new approach for using a 3D polypyrrole (PPy) conducting polymer as a sensing material for glucose detection is proposed. Polypyrrole is electrochemically polymerized on a platinum screen-printed electrode in an aqueous solution of lithium perchlorate and pyrrole. PPy exhibits a high electroactive surface area and high electrochemical stability, which results in it having excellent electrocatalytic properties. The...
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Guided wave propagation for assessment of adhesive bonding between steel and concrete
PublicationAdhesive bonding is becoming more increasingly important in joining of structural elements. In civil engineering, there is a growing interest in connection by adhesive bonding in steel-concrete flexural members. This study concerns the guided wave propagation technique applied to condition assessment of an adhesive connection between a steel member and a concrete beam. Various states of degradation were considered by producing...
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Structural Reliability Assessment Of Corroded Tanker Ship Based On Experimentally Estimated Ultimate Strength
PublicationThis work deals with the reliability assessment of a tanker ship hull structure subjected to a vertical bending moment and corrosion degradation. The progressive collapse and ultimate load carrying capacity are estimated based on experimentally tested scaled box-shaped-specimens. The translation of the strength estimate of the scaled specimen to the real tanker ship hull structure is performed based on the dimensional theory developing...
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Biotrickling filtration of n-butanol vapors: process monitoring using electronic nose and artificial neural network
PublicationBiotrickling filtration is one of the techniques used to reduce odorants in the air. It is based on the aerobic degradation of pollutants by microorganisms located in the filter bed. The research presents the possibility of using the electronic nose prototype combined with artificial neural network for biofiltration process monitoring in terms of reduction in n-butanol concentration and odour intensity of treated air. The study...
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Effect of Storage Conditions of Rutile Flux Cored Welding Wires on Properties of Welds
PublicationThe influence of storage locations of two grades of rutile flux cored welding wires on their surface condition and the strength of the welds made with them were studied. Wires were stored in real urban conditions (Gdańsk and Katowice) for 1 month, simultaneously recording changes in conditions: temperature and relative humidity of the environment. Visual tests of wires in the delivered and stored condition as well as visual and...
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Low-Level Music Feature Vectors Embedded as Watermarks
PublicationIn this paper a method consisting in embedding low-level music feature vectors as watermarks into a musical signal is proposed. First, a review of some recent watermarking techniques and the main goals of development of digital watermarking research are provided. Then, a short overview of parameterization employed in the area of Music Information Retrieval is given. A methodology of non-blind watermarking applied to music-content...
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Noble metal modified TiO2 microspheres: Surface properties and photocatalytic activity under UV-vis and visible light
PublicationComposite photocatalysts that consist of TiO2and noble metal nanostructures have been considered tobe the promising and pivotal material for accessible enhancement of the efficiency in the photocatalyticprocess carried out in the aqueous and gas phases. In this work we fabricated porous TiO2microspheresthrough a hydrothermal process followed by photochemical reduction of noble metal nanoparticles atthe TiO2surface. The morphology...
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Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 microspheres decorated by bimetallic nanoparticles
PublicationComposite photocatalysts that consist of TiO2and noble metal nanostructures have been considered tobe the promising and pivotal material for accessible enhancement of the efficiency in the photocatalyticprocess carried out in the aqueous and gas phases. In this work we fabricated porous TiO2microspheresthrough a hydrothermal process followed by photochemical reduction of noble metal nanoparticles atthe TiO2surface. The morphology...
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Ultra-Wideband Vivaldi Antenna with an Integrated Noise-Rejecting Parasitic Notch Filter for Online Partial Discharge Detection
PublicationPower transformers and gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) play crucial roles in electrical power grids. However, they may suffer from degradation of insulation material due to wear and tear, leading to their imminent failure. Partial discharges (PDs) are an initial sign of insulation materials degradation which emit signals spanning various physical domains, including electromagnetic. PDs are temporally narrow, high-frequency, stochastic...
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Water chemistry of tundra lakes in the periglacial zone of the Bellsund Fiord (Svalbard) in the summer of 2013
PublicationClimate changes observed in the Arctic (e.g. permafrost degradation, glacier retreat) may have significant influence on sensitive polar wetlands. The main objectives of this paper are defining chemical features of water within six small arctic lakes located in Bellsund (Svalbard) in the area of continuous permafrost occurrence. The unique environmental conditions of the study area offer an opportunity to observe phenomena influencing...
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Foamed Polyurethane Composites With Different Types of Ash – Morphological, Mechanical and Thermal Behavior Assessments
Publicationncorporation of two types of ash particles into flexible polyurethane foams has been investigated, wood ash from gasification process and fly ash resulting from coal burning in power plant. Samples were modified with 5, 10 and 15 wt% of fillers. Structure, mechanical and thermal properties of obtained foams were investigated. Incorporation of both types of ash particles resulted in materials showing...
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Can Historic Interiors with Large Cubature be Turned Acoustically Correct?
PublicationHistoric interiors with large cubature, such as reception, theatrical, and concert halls, need to be renovated periodically if they are to be preserved as cultural heritage for future generations. In such cases it is necessary to maintain appropriate balance between requirements imposed by heritage conservation authorities office which are usually being given a higher priority, applicable safety regulations, and the comfort of...
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The Current State-of-the-Art in the Determination of Pharmaceutical Residues in Environmental Matrices Using Hyphenated Techniques
PublicationSeveral thousand tons of pharmaceuticals and their transformation products (metabolites and degradation products) are introduced into the environment each year. They affect both human health and the environment, therefore, analytical procedures enabling the determination of a wide range of pharmaceuticals at trace levelswithminimal effort, time, and energy are required. Nowadays, hyphenated techniques are commonly applied in pharmaceutical...
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Modification of microporous polyurethane elastomers with different types of ash—morphological, mechanical, and thermal studies
PublicationIncorporation of wood ash particles from wood gasification into microporous polyurethane elastomers has been investigated and compared to addition of commercially available microspheres resulting from coal burning. Samples were modified with 3 and 6 wt% of fillers. Structure, mechanical, and thermal properties of obtained elastomers were investigated. Incorporation of both types of ash particles decreased the density of polyurethanes...
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Effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes properties on the photocatalytic activity of bismuth-based composites synthesised via an imidazolium ionic liquid
PublicationThe use of various types of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the synthesis of bismuth oxybromide semiconductors via imidazolium ionic liquid was studied in detail. The effect of the MWCNT shape, specific surface area, and various diameters on the morphology, surface properties and photoactivity of the Bi-based composites has been investigated for the first time. So far, the literature has only shown the enhancement of photocatalytic...
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Surprising Radiolytic Stability of 8‑Thiomethyladenine in an Aqueous Solution
Publication8-Thiomethyladenine (ASCH3), a potentially radiosensitizing modified nucleobase, has been synthesized in a reaction between 8-thioadenine and methyl iodide. Despite favorable dissociative electron attachment (DEA) characteristics, the radiolysis of an aqueous solution of ASCH3 with a dose of X-ray amounting to as much as 300 Gy leads to no effects. Nevertheless, crossed electron-molecule beam experiments in the gas phase on ASCH3...
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Green chemical and hybrid enzymatic pretreatments for lignocellulosic biorefineries: Mechanism and challenges
PublicationThe greener chemical and enzymatic pretreatments for lignocellulosic biomasses are portraying a crucial role owing to their recalcitrant nature. Traditional pretreatments lead to partial degradation of lignin and hemicellulose moieties from the pretreated biomass. But it still restricts the enzyme accessibility for the digestibility towards the celluloses and the interaction of lignin-enzymes, nonproductively. Moreover, incursion...
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White cabbage in the biofumigation process- expectations and perspectives
PublicationHealth risks related to common use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers raised the interest in alteranative methods of crop protection, among them biofumigation is becoming the most promising. In this process certain natural compounds, mainly degradation products of glucosinolates produced by Brassica species are used to combat pests and microorganisms attacking crops. Increased synthesis of these bioactive compounds can be...
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Intra-subject class-incremental deep learning approach for EEG-based imagined speech recognition
PublicationBrain–computer interfaces (BCIs) aim to decode brain signals and transform them into commands for device operation. The present study aimed to decode the brain activity during imagined speech. The BCI must identify imagined words within a given vocabulary and thus perform the requested action. A possible scenario when using this approach is the gradual addition of new words to the vocabulary using incremental learning methods....
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Burnout Investigation of Small Diameter Tubes Immersed in Nanofluids
PublicationThis paper deals with research into pool boiling critical heat flux (CHF) of water–Al2O3, water–TiO2 and water–Cu nanofluids on horizontal stainless steel tubes. The experiments were conducted under atmospheric pressure. Nanoparticles were tested at concentrations of 0.001%, 0.01%, 0.1% and 1% by weight. Ultrasonic vibration was used in order to stabilize the dispersion of the nanoparticles. Although dispersants were not used to...
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X-ray and UV Radiation Damage of dsDNA/Protein Complexes
PublicationRadiation and photodynamic therapies are used for cancer treatment by targeting DNA. However, efficiency is limited due to physico-chemical processes and the insensitivity of native nucleobases to damage. Thus, incorporation of radio- and photosensitizers into these therapies should increase both efficacy and the yield of DNA damage. To date, studies of sensitization processes have been performed on simple model systems, e.g.,...
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Novel two-step synthesis method of thin film heterojunction of BiOBr/Bi2WO6 with improved visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity
PublicationA novel two-step ionic liquid assisted procedure was applied for a controllable synthesis of BiOBr/Bi2WO6 heterojunction thin films. The preparation route involved an anodic oxidation of tungsten foil and hydrothermal transformation of as-anodized oxide in the presence of bismuth precursor and ionic liquid, N-butylpyridinium bromide [BPy][Br]. The BiOBr plates with irregular shapes adhered to the surface of flower-like Bi2WO6 and...
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Emission Profiles of Volatiles during 3D Printing with ABS, ASA, Nylon, and PETG Polymer Filaments
PublicationIn this short communication we characterize the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing using four polymer materials, namely polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PETG), acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), Nylon, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Detailed emission profiles are obtained during thermal degradation of the polymers as a function of temperature...
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Highly linear CMOS triode transconductor for VHF applications
PublicationA high-speed, fully balanced complementary-symmetry metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) triode transconductor is presented. The proposed approach exploits a pseudo-differential-pair triode configuration with a simple adaptive circuit stabilising the drain-to-source voltages of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors. Since no additional active circuits (apart from the resistors made of the cut-off MOS devices) and no feedback...
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Instantaneous impedance monitoring of synergistic effect between cavitation erosion and corrosion processes
PublicationThe most common method of determination of cavitation erosion resistance as well as the magnitude of erosion-corrosion synergistic interaction is based on the weight loss measurements. Nondestructive characterization of installations elements is in most cases impossible to perform. Also, such a measurement does not include local types of failure or alteration of operating conditions. There is an urge to elaborate a method for monitoring...
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Lamb wave-based monitoring of shear failure of an adhesive lap joint
PublicationThe paper presents a study on the elastic wave propagation in adhesive joints of steel plates subjected to tensile loading. A single lap joint was chosen for analysis because of its simplicity and plurality of applications. Experimental investigations consisted of the uniaxial extension of prepared specimens. Force and displacement values were recorded by a testing machine. Simultaneously, guided Lamb waves were excited and signals...
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Study of Different Advanced Oxidation Processes for Wastewater Treatment from Petroleum Bitumen Production at Basic pH
PublicationEffluents from production of petroleum bitumens were submitted to treatment by three different AOPs at basic pH (i.e., O3, H2O2 and the combination of O3 and H2O2, a so-called peroxone). The paper presents studies on the identification and monitoring of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) degradation present in the effluents and formation of byproducts, COD, BOD5, sulfide ions, biotoxicity, and biodegradability changes during...
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Detection of debonding in adhesive joints using Lamb wave propagation
PublicationAdhesively bonded joints are widely used in many branches of industry. Mechanical degradation of this type of connections does not have significant symptoms that can be noticed during visual assessment, so non-destructive testing becomes a very important issue. The paper deals with experimental investigations of adhesively bonded steel plates with different defects. Five samples (an intact one and four with damages in the form...
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Impact of the glazed roof on acoustics of historic interiors
PublicationThe paper discusses the adverse acoustic phenomena occurring in the semi-open interiors (courtyards, yards) covered with a glass roof. Particularly negative is the rever-beration noise, which leads to the degradation of the utility functions of the resulting spaces. It involves the drastically reducing the intelligibility of speech, loss of natural sounding of music, problems with the sound system, as well as disturbances in the...
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Ceramic composites for single-layer fuel cells
PublicationComposite materials consisting of acceptor doped lanthanum orthoniobate electrolyte phase (La0.98Ca0.02NbO4) and Li2O:NiO:ZnO semiconducting phase were synthesized. The precursor powder of La0.98Ca0.02NbO4 was prepared in nanocrystalline (mechanosynthesis) and microcrystalline (solid-state synthesis) form. The composite can be applied in a single-layer fuel cell, because of the presence of two phases acting as an anode and a cathode...
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Molecular transformation of dissolved organic matter in manganese ore-mediated constructed wetlands for fresh leachate treatment
PublicationThe organic matter (OM) and nitrogen in Fresh leachate (FL) from waste compression sites pose environmental and health risks. Even though the constructed wetland (CW) can efficiently remove these pollutants, the molecular-level transformations of dissolved OM (DOM) in FL remain uncertain. This study reports the molecular dynamics of DOM and nitrogen removal during FL treatment in CWs. Two lab-scale vertical-flow CW systems were...
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Efficient removal of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) from industrial/military wastewater using anodic oxidation on boron-doped diamond electrodes
PublicationWith growing public concern about water quality particular focus should be placed on organic micropollutants, which are harmful to the environment and people. Hence, the objective of this research is to enhance the security and resilience of water resources by developing an efficient system for reclaiming industrial/military wastewater and protecting recipients from the toxic and cancerogenic explosive compound – 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene...
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Adapt Your Teacher: Improving Knowledge Distillation for Exemplar-free Continual Learning
PublicationIn this work, we investigate exemplar-free class incremental learning (CIL) with knowledge distillation (KD) as a regularization strategy, aiming to prevent forgetting. KDbased methods are successfully used in CIL, but they often struggle to regularize the model without access to exemplars of the training data from previous tasks. Our analysis reveals that this issue originates from substantial representation shifts in the teacher...
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Chitin nanowhiskers from shrimp shell waste as green filler in acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber: Processing and performance properties
PublicationIn this work, chitin nanowhiskers with high crystallinity index were obtained from shrimp shells waste using acid hydrolysis method and then comprehensively characterized. Subsequently, the impact of chitin nanowhisker content on processing and performance of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber based nanocomposites was evaluated. The results showed that the addition of chitin nanowhiskers increased tensile strength and tear strength...
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Defective TiO2 Core-Shell Magnetic Photocatalyst Modified with Plasmonic Nanoparticles for Visible Light-Induced Photocatalytic Activity
PublicationIn the presented work, for the first time, the metal-modified defective titanium(IV) oxide nanoparticles with well-defined titanium vacancies, was successfully obtained. Introducing platinum and copper nanoparticles (NPs) as surface modifiers of defective d-TiO2 significantly increased the photocatalytic activity in both UV-Vis and Vis light ranges. Moreover, metal NPs deposition on the magnetic core allowed for the effective separation...
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Mono- and bimetallic (Pt/Cu) titanium(IV) oxide photocatalysts. Physicochemical and photocatalytic data of magnetic nanocomposites’ shell
PublicationSurface modification of titania with noble and semi-noble metals resulted in significant enhancement of photocatalytic activity. Presented data, showing the photocatalytic properties of TiO2-M (where M is Pt and/or Cu) photocatalysts were further used as Fe3O4@SiO2/TiO2-M magnetic nanocomposites shells in "Mono- and bimetallic (Pt/Cu) titanium(IV) oxide core-shell photocatalysts with Vis light activity and magnetic separability"...
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Biomedical engineering of polysaccharide-based tissue adhesives: Recent advances and future direction
PublicationTissue adhesives have been widely used for preventing wound leaks, sever bleeding, as well as for enhancing drug delivery and biosensing. However, only a few among suggested platforms cover the circumstances required for high-adhesion strength and biocompatibility, without toxicity. Antibacterial properties, controllable degradation, encapsulation capacity, detectability by image-guided procedures and affordable price are also...
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Structural changes of bacterial cellulose due to incubation in conditions simulating human plasma in the presence of selected pathogens
PublicationBacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a natural biomaterial with a wide range of medical applications. However, it cannot be used as a biological implant of the circulatory system without checking whether it is biodegradable under human plasma conditions. This work aimed to investigate the BNC biodegradation by selected pathogens under conditions simulating human plasma. The BNC was incubated in simulated biological fluids with or...