IMINATION OF CHITOSAN NANOFIBERS IN A HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEM. SYNTHESIS OPTIMIZATION AND IMPACT ON FIBER MORPHOLOGY

The paper aimed to prepare imino-chitosan fibers by the imination reaction in a heterogenous system, targeting the improvement of anti-pathogenic activity. To this end, porous neat chitosan fibers were prepared by electrospinning of the polyethylene glycol/chitosan blend, followed by polyethylene glycol removal. Imination of the neat chitosan fibers was carried out in three liquid phase systems using solvents of different polarity and, consequently, different ability to swell the solid phase chitosan fibers. The successful imination was qualitatively and quantitatively assessed by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy, and the impact of the liquid phase on the fibers’ morphology was evaluated by SEM, POM and AFM microscopy. Further, the antimicrobial activity of the imino-chitosan fibers was investigated on relevant bacterial and fungal strains. It was concluded that the prior swelling in water of the fibers improved the imination degree, while the use of a less polar solvent, such as toluene, favored the preservation of the fibrous morphology. The imination with an antimicrobial aldehyde endowed the chitosan fibers with the ability to create a physical barrier against pathogens.

High-fidelity and high-resolution phase mapping of granites via confocal Raman imaging

In physical sciences such as chemistry and earth sciences, specifically for characterization of minerals in a rock, automated, objective mapping methods based on elemental analysis have replaced traditional optical petrography. However, mineral phase maps obtained from these newer approaches rely on conversion of elemental compositions to mineralogical compositions and thus cannot distinguish mineral polymorphs. Secondly, these techniques often require laborious sample preparations such as sectioning, polishing, and coating which are time-consuming. Here, we develop a new Raman imaging protocol that is capable of mapping unpolished samples with an auto-focusing Z-mapping feature that allows direct fingerprinting of different polymorphs. Specifically, we report a new methodology for generating high fidelity phase maps by exploiting characteristic peak intensity ratios which can be extended to any multi-phase, heterogenous system. Collectively, these enhancements allow us to rapidly map an unpolished granite specimen (~ 2 × 2 mm) with an exceptionally high accuracy (> 97%) and an extremely fine spatial resolution (< 0.3–2 µm).

MONOATOMIC ALCOHOLS IN A SYSTEM ”FORMATION WATER–n-DODECANE”

The paper presents the experimental research of distribution of nine С1–С5 aliphatic monoatomic alcohols of normal and isomeric structure in a two-phased heterogenous system ”formation water–n-dodecane” using gas-chromatography method for the purpose of a choice of the most effective tracers for the characterization of filtrational streams and oil saturation when waterflooding. There were defined distribution constants K_с in interval of temperatures 25–75С on which basis appeared the conclusion that alcohols С1–С3 can be used as water (non-partitioning) tracers whereas alcohols С4–С5 approach for a role of partitioning tracers.

DISCOVERING PATTERNS FOR INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL BUSINESS PROCESS COLLABORATION

In the area of business-to-business (B2B) collaboration for manufacturing, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are confronted with the problem of spending considerable time and effort on coordinating suppliers across multiple tiers of their supply chain. In tightly integrated supply chains, the failure of providing services and goods on time leads to interruptions of the overall production and subsequently results in customer dissatisfaction. This paper proposes the concept of electronic Sourcing eSourcing as a consolidating approach for improving the coordination of service provision across several tiers of a supply chain. eSourcing allows for the harmonization of heterogenous system environments of collaborating parties without requiring a total disclosure of internal business details to the counterpart. Furthermore, with tool support in eSourcing, it is possible to verify the correct termination of processes and the contractual adherence of service provision without imposing fixed standardized routing. In this paper features of the eSourcing concept are analyzed in a pattern-based way. This paper pursues an analysis of eSourcing patterns in a top-down way for constructing collaboration configurations. The discovered and specified eSourcing construction patterns of this paper are instrumental in the EU-FP6 project CrossWork for conducting case studies with industry partners from the automobile industry.