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The purpose of this paper is the design and investigation of novel acrylated epoxidized soybean oil-based photocurable systems as candidate materials for optical 3D printing.

Aromatic dithiols, benzene-1,3-dithiol or benzene-1,4-dithiol, were used as cross-linking agents of acrylated epoxidized soybean oil in these systems. Kinetics of photocross-linking was investigated by real-time photorheometry using two different photoinitiators, 2, 2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone or 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropiophenone, in different quantities. The effect of the initial composition on the rate of photocross-linking, mechanical, thermal properties and swelling of obtained polymers was investigated.

The rate of photocross-linking was higher, more cross-links and shorter polymer chains between cross-linking points of the network were formed when benzene-1,4-dithiol and 2, 2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone were used in compositions. The higher yield of insoluble fraction, glass transition temperatures and values of compressive modulus were obtained when benzene-1,3-dithiol and 2, 2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone were used in compositions.

This is the first study of acrylated epoxidized soybean oil-based thiol-ene system by real-time photorheometry. The designed novel photocurable systems based on acrylated epoxidized soybean oil and benzenedithiols are promising renewable photoresins for rapid optical 3D printing on demand.

Summarization of an entire web site with diverse content may lead to a summary heavily biased towards the site's dominant topics. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel topic‐based framework to address this problem.

A two‐stage framework is proposed. The first stage identifies the main topics covered in a web site via clustering and the second stage summarizes each topic separately. The proposed system is evaluated by a user study and compared with the single‐topic summarization approach.

The user study demonstrates that the clustering‐summarization approach statistically significantly outperforms the plain summarization approach in the multi‐topic web site summarization task. Text‐based clustering based on selecting features with high variance over web pages is reliable; outgoing links are useful if a rich set of cross links is available.

More sophisticated clustering methods than those used in this study are worth investigating. The proposed method should be tested on web content that is less structured than organizational web sites, for example blogs.

The proposed summarization framework can be applied to the effective organization of search engine results and faceted or topical browsing of large web sites.

Several key components are integrated for web site summarization for the first time, including feature selection and link analysis, key phrase and key sentence extraction. Insight into the contributions of links and content to topic‐based summarization was gained. A classification approach is used to minimize the number of parameters.

The problem of the analytical modeling of macromolecular systems with branching is solved by the statistical polymer, which is based on consideration of averaged structures. All interactions are described in terms of statistical polymers. Cross‐linking is considered as a result of interactions inside statistical polymers. It is concluded that cross‐linking may result in the formation of infinitely hard structures and gelling. Thermodynamic functions of statistical polymers are derived and employed for simulation of the evolution of a non‐equilibrium polymeric system. Equations for the evaluation of various parameters of polymeric systems with branching are derived. Theoretical results are used for the preparation of new materials (having a branched, cross‐linked structure) with forecasted properties.

The meat quality attribute of texture is ranked as the most important by consumers. Details the mechanism of the major causes of meat toughness. Examines pre‐slaughter, post‐slaughter and processing factors that influence the texture of meat.

Glycidyl terminated rigid‐rod monomers can be cured in a liquid crystalline state. The resulting thermoset offers high potential as protective coating thanks to its outstanding properties. In particular a superior fracture toughness and a reduced internal stress are two typical parameters offered by this new class of compounds. Transport properties are not strongly affected by the state of order of the cross‐linked resin, in the sense that gas permeabilities are of the same order of magnitude of conventional epoxy resins.

Shape memory polyurethanes (SMPUs) are typically synthesized using polyols of low molecular weight, Mw, and high hydroxyl number as it is believed that high density of cross-links in these polyols are essential for high performance shape memory polymers. In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) with Mw ~ 6000 g/mol and low hydroxyl number (OH ~ 18 mg K OH/g) as the soft segment and diisocyanate as the hard segment were used to synthesize SMPUs. It revealed that although the PEG-6000 based SMPUs have lower maximum elongation at break (425%) and recovery stress than those of PCL-2000 polyol based SMPUs, they have much better shape recovery ratio (98%) and shape fixity (95%). Furthermore, these SMPUs showed a much shorter actuation time of <10sec for up to 85% shape recovery, much shorter than those low Mw SMPUs, clearly demonstrated their great potential for applications.

This study aims to explore the incorporation of the authors previously prepared chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) of size around 60-100 nm in the cross-linking formulation of viscose fabrics to see CNPs impact in terms of imparting multi-functional characteristics such as tensile strength, dry wrinkle recovery angles and antibacterial properties.

CNPs of size around 60-100 nm were incorporated in cross-linking formulations for viscose fabrics, including different concentrations of glutaraldehyde as a non-formaldehyde cross-linking agent and magnesium chloride hexahydrate as a catalyst. The formulations were applied at different curing times and temperatures in 100 mL distilled water, giving rise to a wet pickup of ca. 85 per cent. The fabrics were dried for 3 min at 85°C and cured at specified temperatures for fixed time intervals in thermo fixing oven according to the traditional pad-dry-cure method.

The above eco-friendly method for finished viscose fabrics was found to obtain high dry wrinkle recovery angle and maintain the tensile strength of the finished fabric within the acceptable range, as well as antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as a gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, respectively. Both, scanning electron microscope and nitrogen percent on the finished fabric confirm the penetration of CNPs inside the fabric structure. Finally, viscose fabrics pageant antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria assessed even after 20 washing cycle.

CNPs with its flourishing effect with respect to cationic nature, biodegradability, reactivity, higher surface area and antimicrobial activity; in addition to glutaraldehyde as non-formaldehyde finishing agent can be used as multi-functional agents for viscose fabrics instead of DMDHEU, polyacrylate and monomeric composites as hazardous materials.

CNPs as cationic biopolymers were expected to impart multi-functional properties to viscose fabrics especially with obtaining reasonable dry wrinkle recovery angle and tensile strength in addition to antibacterial properties.

The novelty addressed here is undertaken with a view to impart easy care characteristics and antibacterial activities onto viscose fabrics using CNPs as antimicrobial agent and glutaraldehyde as non-formaldehyde durable press finishes to-replace the traditional formaldehyde-based resins. Besides, to the authors’ knowledge, there is no published work so far using the above cross-linking formulation written above.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are continuously formed in the body during normal metabolism and ageing through a non‐enzymatic glycosylation reaction between proteins and carbohydrates, known as the Maillard's reaction. Many AGEs are capable of forming cross‐links between proteins and most of them have fluorescent properties. Production of AGEs is markedly increased in diabetes mellitus where they play a pathological role. The aim of the present study is to investigate the possible inhibitory effects of urea, metformin and ascorbic acid on in vitro formation of fluorescent AGE products by comparing their inhibitory capacity with a well‐known AGEs inhibitor, aminoguanidine.

Experiments were carried out using bovine serum albumin and D (+) glucose to produce glycated bovine serum albumin, a fluorescent AGE. Fluorometer analysis was then performed to measure AGEs production and fluorescent intensity was compared between glycated samples with and without the inhibitors.

Aminoguanidine which is known to form guanidine‐carbonyl adduct, reversing the glycation process. was found to inhibit AGEs formation by 57 per cent. Although urea and metformin inhibits glycation by the same route, it was the most effective inhibitor among all four inhibiting agents used. Ascorbic acid, an antioxidant, also inhibits fluorescent AGEs by 52 per cent. It was also a good cross‐link inhibitor. Urea showed an inhibitory effect of 27 per cent. It is suggested that urea formed in the body might be a possible natural protector of AGEs formation. Finally, metformin, an antidiabetic drug inhibits AGEs production by only 12 per cent. It is known to rather increase peripheral sensitivity to insulin and lower blood‐glucose level.

The paper shows that aminoguanidine is the most efficient inhibitor and ascorbic acid supplementation could prove useful in diabetic patients to remove reactive species generated in the Maillard's reaction.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of epichlorohydrin (ECH) concentration and reaction time on the food-grade resistant starch production and its pasting properties by using native cassava starch of Misiones-Argentina origin.

Cassava starch was modified using ECH (0.30 and 0.15 per cent) during 4 or 8 h. Digestibility was evaluated by determining resistant starch as total dietary fiber. Pasting properties and the cross-linking degree were studied using a micro-viscoamylograph (Brabender).

Resistant starch content was not influenced by ECH concentration and reaction time. Cross-linking was detected at higher reaction times (8 h) and ECH concentrations (0.30 per cent), where a decrease in viscosity peaks by more than 80 per cent was observed. Both pasting temperature and breakdown were increased, whereas a decrease in retrogradation was detected.

Starches can be suitable for different food applications. This is because of the ability to modify its pasting properties and the invariability of the in vitro digestibility of cassava starch as a result of using ECH (at concentrations approved by local and regional legislation) and reaction times of 4 and 8 h.

Information related to the modification of cassava starch using ECH is scarce or not available nowadays in literature.

For numerical treatment of resin‐containing systems and forecasting of their properties, certain models of branching are needed. In this review, existing theoretical models of systems containing branched structures (polymers, aggregates, etc.) are analyzed and compared. The criteria of selection of the optimal theoretical model comprise chemical and physical problems available for solution, simplicity of such solution, connection between theoretically forecasted and experimental results, and the time needed for computing. It is concluded that, according to these criteria, the optimal (between existing models) is the statistical polymer method.