The effect of 3D printing on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone filament and scaffold

Three‐dimensional (3D) printing becomes an attractive technique to fabricate tissue engineering scaffolds through its high control on fabrication and repeatability using the printing parameters. This technique can be combined by the finite element method (FEM), and tissue‐specific scaffolds with desirable morphological and mechanical properties can be designed and manufactured. In this study, the influential 3D printing parameters on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone (PCL) filament and scaffold were studied experimentally and numerically. First, the effects of printing parameters and process on the properties of extruded PCL filament were investigated. Then, using FEM, the effects of filament specifications on the overall characteristics of the scaffold were evaluated. Results showed that both the printing process in terms of resting time and remaining time and the printing parameters like pressure, printing speed, and printing path length have influenced the filament properties. In addition, both the filament diameter and elastic modulus had significant effects on the properties of scaffold especially, a 20% increase in the filament diameter caused the scaffold compressive elastic modulus to rise by around 72%. It is concluded that the printing parameters and process must be tuned very well in fabricating scaffolds with the desired morphology and mechanical property.     

Determination of low level nitrite and nitrate in biological, food and environmental samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (LC-FL) methods have been proposed for the determination of low level nitrite and nitrate in biological, food and environmental samples. The methods include derivatization of aqueous nitrite with 2,3-diaminonaphthalene (DAN), enzymatic reduction of nitrate to nitrite, extraction with toluene and chromatographic analyses of highly fluorescent 2,3-naphthotriazole (NAT) derivative of nitrite by using GC-MS in selected-ion-monitoring (SIM) mode and LC-FL. Nitrite and nitrate ions in solid samples were extracted with 0.5 M aqueous NaOH by sonication. The recoveries of nitrite and nitrate ions based on GC-MS and LC-FL results were 98.40% and 98.10% and the precision of these methods, as indicated by the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 1.00% for nitrite and 1.20% for nitrate, respectively. The limits of detection of the GC-MS in SIM mode and LC-FL methods based on S/N = 3 were 0.02 and 0.29 pg/ml for nitrite and 0.03 and 0.30 pg/ml for nitrate, respectively.     

Chemometric approach to the optimisation of LC-FL and GC-MS methods for the determination of nitrite and nitrate in some biological,food and environmental samples

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method and a liquid chromatography–fluorescence (LC-FL) detection method using experimental design and optimisation approach were improved for the quantitative determination of nitrite and nitrate in biological, food and environmental samples. The obtained recoveries of nitrite and nitrate ions from samples based on both GC-MS and LC-FL results ranged from 98.5% to 98.9% for nitrite and 97.9% to 98.4% for nitrate. The precision of these methods, as indicated by the relative standard deviations (RSDs), was within the range from 2.4% to 3.6% for nitrite and 2.5% to 3.8% for nitrate, respectively. The limits of detection of nitrite and nitrate ions from samples based on GC-MS and LC-FL results ranged from 0.01 to 0.14 ng L^?1 for nitrite and 0.02 to 0.71 ng L^?1 for nitrate, respectively. The optimised isolation procedure by central composite design was successfully applied to real samples. The results revealed that the proposed procedure combined with GC-MS and LC-FL techniques is more sensitive, reliable and selective compared to the other methods available for the precise determination of trace levels of nitrite and nitrate in biological, food and environmental samples.     

Maximum spin aligned states in 98 47Ag51

New excited states have been observed in the neutron deficient isotope ⁹⁸Ag following the ⁵⁸Ni+⁵⁰Cr →¹⁰⁸Te^* heavy–ion reaction. One of these states may be interpreted as a maximum spin aligned state of the πg_9/2 ⁻³νg_7/2 configuration. Other possible interpretations within the nuclear shell model are discussed as well. Received: 24 October 1997     

Superdeformation in142Eu

A rotational band with 15 transitions has been observed in¹⁴²Eu in an experiment with the GASP Ge detector array by the¹¹⁰Pd(³⁷Cl,5_n) reaction. The average energy spacing between the neighbouring transitions is 60 keV, which is similar to the energy spacings in the superdeformed bands in the mass 140 region. The band has a constant dynamic moment of inertia as suggested by Cranked Shell Model calculations.     

Synthesis, spectroscopy, and characterization of some bis-nicotinamide metal(II) dihalide complexes

We report synthesis of six new bis-nicotinamide metal(II) dihalide complexes [M(nia)(2)Cl(2); M = Mn, Co; nia:nicotinamide, M(nia)(2)Br(2); M = Mn, Hg; M(nia)(2)I(2); M = Cd, Cu], and their characterization by combining infrared spectroscopy with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Infrared spectra indicate that ring-nitrogen is the active donor cite, and the atomic structure of the complexes is determined to be polymeric octahedral or distorted polymeric octahedral. Spin polarized electronic ground state is obtained for Mn, Co, and Cu halide complexes. The colors of the complexes also support the conclusion of octahedral coordination around the metal atoms, in agreement with DFT results.     

Bioactive Chemical Constituents of Cladiella Species

From the methanolic extract of Cladiella sp., collected from the Andaman Island, India, a new sesquiterpene, cladidiol ( 2 ), and three known diterpenes, cladiellaperoxide ( 3 ), (6E)‐2α,9α‐epoxyeunicella‐6,11(12)‐dien‐3β‐ol ( 4 ), and polyanthellin A ( 5 ) were isolated. The structures of these compounds were established by extensive spectroscopic studies. Compound 2 exhibited modest acetylcholinesterase‐inhibition activity, and compounds 3 – 5 showed antibacterial activities against Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.     

Dielectric behavior of hexaferrites BaCo2−xZnxFe16O27

The dielectric constant (′) and dielectric loss (tan δ) for hexaferrites BaCo_2−xZn_xFe₁₆O₂₇ have been studied as a function of frequency (f), temperature (T) and composition (x). The experimental results indicate that ′ and tan δ above the relaxation frequency only decrease as the frequency increases and as the temperature decreases. Tan δ shows the dielectric relaxation at certain critical frequencies which rise as temperature increases. The activation energy for the dielectric relaxation (E_D), ′, and tan δ are found to be minimum for x = 0.8.