Bag Technique Research Articles

Effect of Clay, Mixing Speed, and Time on Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber/Clay Reinforced Unsaturated Polyester Prepared by Vacuum Bag Technique

Effect of Clay, Mixing Speed, and Time on Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber/Clay Reinforced Unsaturated Polyester Prepared by Vacuum Bag Technique

Silage additives improve fermentation quality, aerobic stability and rumen degradation in mixed silage composed of amaranth and corn straw.

The objective of this research was to investigate effects of different additives on the fermentation quality, aerobic stability and rumen degradation of mixed silage composed of amaranth and corn straw. The mixture ratio of amaranth to corn straw was 78%: 22%. Three additives were selected in this study and five groups were as follows: control group (CON, without additive), lactic acid bacteria group (LAB, 5 mg/kg, Lactobacillus plantarum ≥ 1.6×1010 CFU/g and L. buchneri ≥ 4.0×109 CFU/g), glucose group (GLU, 30 g/kg), cellulase group (CEL, 2 mg/kg) and lactic acid bacteria, glucose and cellulase group (LGC, added at the same levels as in individual group). The period of ensiling was 60 days. Fermentation quality, chemical composition and aerobic stability of mixed silage were analyzed. Four cows with permanent ruminal fistula were selected as experimental animals. Nylon bag technique was used to study rumen degradation characteristic of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of mixed silage. Compared with CON group, the addition of different silage additives could improve mixed silage quality of amaranth and corn straw to some extent. Combining three additives significantly increased (P < 0.05) the DM, CP and lactic acid contents, whereas decreased (P < 0.05) the ADF and NDF contents as well as pH and ammonia nitrogen/total nitrogen. Moreover, the aerobic stability and rumen degradation of DM, CP and NDF were significantly improved (P < 0.05) in LGC group when compared to other groups. In conclusion, the combined addition of lactic acid bacteria, glucose and cellulase increased DM, CP and lactic acid contents as well as lactic acid bacteria count, decreased NDF and ADF contents and aerobic bacteria and mold counts, improved aerobic stability and rumen degradation of amaranth and corn straw mixed silage.

Experimental, Theoretical, and Numerical Analysis of Laminated Composite Prosthetic Socket Reinforced with Flax and Cotton Fibers

A lot of work has been done to enhance the mechanical properties of natural fiber composites to increase their strength and applicability. This research aims to investigate the utilization of natural fibers for below-knee prosthesis socket manufacture using the vacuum bagging technique experimentally, theoretically, and numerically. Lamination groups of different layering arrangements were evaluated by tensile tests. The finite element methodology (FEM) was utilized by noting the dispersion of safety factors, equivalent Von-Mises stress, and total deformation, while the theoretical part estimated Poisson's ratio, volume fraction, failure index, and theoretical safety factor. The study found that the number and type of fibers affected mechanical properties, in addition, that combining natural and artificial reinforcements permits the creation of high-performance bio-composites. FEM results coincided with both the theoretical and experimental results, with lamination 9 having the highest modulus of elasticity (5.6 GPa) and tensile strength (423 MPa). This work uncovered the properties of the proposed hybrid fiber-reinforced composites that haven't been exasperated up to the present and showed that sockets can be assembled from sustainable, low-risk materials without sacrificing the composite materials' strength. The study found that bio-composites with better performance could be created by combining synthetic with natural reinforcements.

An Empirical Model for The Classification of Diabetes and Diabetes_Types Using Ensemble Approaches

Diabetes is a hereditary disorder that interferes with human life at all ages. It is challenging for cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream when an individual has diabetes. The two main subtypes of diabetes are type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes develops when the pancreas cannot make enough insulin, whereas type 2 diabetes spreads due to insulin resistance. Diabetes is a recurrent, and chronic illness that is incurable. In modern healthcare systems, disease detection technology is pervasive. Detecting diabetes in its early stages is crucial for initiating timely treatment and halting disease progression. The proposed method has the potential not only to forecast the likelihood of future diabetes onset but also to identify the specific type of diabetes a person may develop. This paper investigates a potential solution for a diabetes prediction model in light of the continually rising prevalence of diabetes among patients. The proposed framework is designed using two datasets: the Pima Indian dataset, which is used to forecast diabetes, and the Diabetes Type dataset, which is used to identify the type of diabetes mellitus an individual has. This research aims to apply machine learning classifiers and ensemble models, such as Bagging, Voting, Averaging, and Stacking, for diabetes prediction. In this context, SMOTE (Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique) and hyperparameter adjustment of the algorithms are considered and have substantially improved the findings. The developed heterogeneous ensemble model offers enhanced prediction rates with different performance criteria. Using the bagging technique, Random Forest attains a 96% accuracy rate, resulting in better predictions in the PID dataset. Regarding the Diabetes Type dataset, the Voting Ensemble Model provides a 98.5% accuracy rate. This study highlights that Ensemble learning models are effective in predicting diabetes and can outperform earlier relevant studies.

Flexural and flame retardance properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes/glass fibre/epoxy hybrid composites

The effect of different multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) wt.% loading on the flammability, water absorption, thermal stability and flexural properties of glass fabric reinforced epoxy composites is reported in this paper. The pristine MWCNTs were dispersed in water, using arabic gum (GA) as a dispersing agent. Then, the suspension was sprayed onto the glass fibre (GF). Hybrid composites with and without MWCNTs were fabricated using hand lay-up and vacuum bagging techniques. Based on standard fire testings such as limiting oxygen index (LOI) and horizontal burning (UL94HB), it was observed that the composites were able to self-extinguish, even at low amounts of MWCNTs. Increase in the MWCNTs content produced a concurrent increase in the LOI of the composites which reached a maximum value of 31.30 ± 1.22% at 1 wt% MWCNT. The thermal stability was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and it was found that the addition of MWCNTs improved thermal stability, and increased the fire-retardance of the glass fabric reinforced epoxy (GF/EP) composites. The highest composite flexural strength (150 MPa) and flexural modulus (12 GPa) were attained at 0.5 wt% MWCNT. Above 0.5 wt%, a drop in strength and modulus was observed. The results from this study showed that the use of hybrid reinforcement containing MWCNTs can help to significantly improve the flame retardance, water absorption, and mechanical properties of reinforced composites by incorporating optimum amount of MWCNTs.

Field Incubation Studies on Nutrient Mineralization of Bagasse on Spodosols and Histosols in Florida

The addition of organic byproducts to soils is a vital source of essential nutrients for plant uptake. To reuse the nutrients effectively, there is a need to estimate the release patterns of nutrients from the byproducts. This study aimed to investigate the release patterns of nutrients [nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)] from bagasse, a sugarcane milling byproduct, at two soil depths (surface at 0 cm vs. buried at 15 cm) in sugarcane and fallow fields on two soil types (Histosols vs. Spodosols) in Florida. In addition, field incubation studies were conducted using the mesh bag technique for one year of sugarcane production. The nutrient release patterns and bagasse decomposition rates were determined under each scenario. The results indicated that bagasse decomposed faster when buried (totally decomposed after approximately 450 days) than when placed on the soil surface (about 50% remained after 450 days) in both sugarcane and fallow fields on Spodosols and Histosols. Bagasse decomposed faster in Histosols compared to Spodosols. N and P showed net immobilization after approximately one month of bagasse application when buried, which indicated additional N and P fertilizers should be considered to meet crop demand. K presented no immobilization, with a rapid initial release in Spodosols and a gradual release in Histosols.

Degradability of Vicia ervilia Grain Using In Situ and CNCPS Methods, and Model-Based Analysis of Its Ruminal Degradation

Using nylon bag techniques, Cornell net carbohydrates and protein systems (CNCPS), and scanning electron microscopy, the authors examined the digestibility and structure of Vicia ervilia (ervil, bitter vetch) after steam flaking, roasting, and microwave processing. During the in situ technique, the samples were incubated at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 36, and 48 h. For the description of the ruminal DM (dry matter) and CP (crude protein) degradation kinetics of treated and untreated Vicia ervilia, different models were selected as the best fit for the dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) degradation parameters of steam flaked samples. The results showed that both the steam flaking and microwave treatment samples contained high levels of non-protein nitrogen and buffer soluble protein, respectively. In comparison with steam flaking and microwave treatment, roasting decreased and increased the buffer soluble protein and neutral detergent insoluble protein, respectively. The control treatments showed the highest levels of neutral detergent soluble protein and the lowest levels of acid detergent soluble protein. Moreover, steam flaking and roasting decreased and increased the amount of acid detergent insoluble protein, respectively. When using dry heat (microwave and roasting), the acid detergent soluble and insoluble protein fractions were increased. As a result of this experiment, the nitrogen fractions were altered using heat processing. Hence, protein fermented feed and ruminal fermentation conditions can be expressed using these results.

Thermomechanical properties of imidazolium ionic liquid-modified mwcnt/carbon fiber/epoxy hybrid composite laminates

Hybrid composite laminates with nanofillers are high performance materials for thermal and structural applications. In this work, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were non-covalently modified by treating them with 1 wt% or 5 wt% of ionic liquid (IL), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride. The treated MWCNT were dispersed in epoxy resin (weight content: 0.2–2 wt% or 1 to 3 wt%, respectively) and used to obtain hybrid composite laminates based on carbon fibers (CF) molded by hand layup and vacuum bagging techniques. The hybrid composite laminate containing 1 wt% of MWCNT modified with 1 wt% of IL showed the best mechanical and thermomechanical properties, including an increase of 210% and 151% in flexural strength and modulus, and an increase of 101%, 116% and 29.3% in storage modulus, loss modulus and damping, respectively. Scanning and transmission electron micrographs showed the enhanced MWCNT dispersion and network at low IL content, justifying its improved mechanical properties. The application of a low amount of IL dispersant was found a promising approach to prepare MWCNT/CF/epoxy composites with enhanced properties.

A systematic review of social network sentiment analysis with comparative study of ensemble-based techniques

Sentiment Analysis (SA) of text reviews is an emerging concern in Natural Language Processing (NLP). It is a broadly active method for analyzing and extracting opinions from text using individual or ensemble learning techniques. This field has unquestionable potential in the digital world and social media platforms. Therefore, we present a systematic survey that organizes and describes the current scenario of the SA and provides a structured overview of proposed approaches from traditional to advance. This work also discusses the SA-related challenges, feature engineering techniques, benchmark datasets, popular publication platforms, and best algorithms to advance the automatic SA. Furthermore, a comparative study has been conducted to assess the performance of bagging and boosting-based ensemble techniques for social network SA. Bagging and Boosting are two major approaches of ensemble learning that contain various ensemble algorithms to classify sentiment polarity. Recent studies recommend that ensemble learning techniques have the potential of applicability for sentiment classification. This analytical study examines the bagging and boosting-based ensemble techniques on four benchmark datasets to provide extensive knowledge regarding ensemble techniques for SA. The efficiency and accuracy of these techniques have been measured in terms of TPR, FPR, Weighted F-Score, Weighted Precision, Weighted Recall, Accuracy, ROC-AUC curve, and Run-Time. Moreover, comparative results reveal that bagging-based ensemble techniques outperformed boosting-based techniques for text classification. This extensive review aims to present benchmark information regarding social network SA that will be helpful for future research in this field.

Determining human-coronavirus protein-protein interaction using machine intelligence

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus spread the novel CoronaVirus −19 (nCoV-19) pandemic, resulting in millions of fatalities globally. Recent research demonstrated that the Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) between SARS-CoV-2 and human proteins is accountable for viral pathogenesis. However, many of these PPIs are poorly understood and unexplored, necessitating a more in-depth investigation to find latent yet critical interactions. This article elucidates the host-viral PPI through Machine Learning (ML) lenses and validates the biological significance of the same using web-based tools. ML classifiers are designed based on comprehensive datasets with five sequence-based features of human proteins, namely Amino Acid Composition, Pseudo Amino Acid Composition, Conjoint Triad, Dipeptide Composition, and Normalized Auto Correlation. A majority voting rule-based ensemble method composed of the Random Forest Model (RFM), AdaBoost, and Bagging technique is proposed that delivers encouraging statistical performance compared to other models employed in this work. The proposed ensemble model predicted a total of 111 possible SARS-CoV-2 human target proteins with a high likelihood factor ≥70%, validated by utilizing Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Consequently, this research can aid in a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying viral pathogenesis and provide clues for developing more efficient anti-COVID medications.

Laminated Jute and Glass FibreReinforced Composite forRepairing Concrete Through Wrapping Technique

Natural fiberreinforced composite in concrete structure material has attracted many researchers and engineers in recent decades due to its good agreement in mechanical properties, economics, and sustainability. An experimental investigation was conducted to investigate the jute and glass fiberlaminated composite for cylindricalconcrete repair.Jute and glass fiberwere used as reinforcement, and vinyl ester (VE) served as the matrix.The vacuum bagging technique was used to wrap the cylindrical concrete columns with a diameter of 50 mm and a height of 150 mm.Compression and Brazilian tests were performed on the specimen.It was discovered that the four (4) layers of jute fiberreinforced thermoset (JFRT) composite had the highest mechanical properties, with an improvement of 72.62%when compared to glass fibrereinforced thermoset (GFRT) composite. It can be concluded that both GFRT and JFRT had the potential to improve the mechanical properties performance of cylindrical concrete specimens with an increase of up to five (5) layers of woven fiber.The results presented here may facilitate improvements in the concrete specimen by using JFRT where it was suggested to have a higher improvement for the concrete specimen with the optimum layers applied.As a result, jute fiberhas been shown to perform better and can be used as an alternative to glass fiber.As a result, jute fiberhas been shown to perform better and can be used as an alternative to glass fiber.

Abstract 3313: A novel RNA aptamer-based assay for quantifying fractional occupancy of PD1 by PDL1 in formalin fixed biospecimens

Abstract Background: There is a need for better prognostic biomarkers for PD1-based therapy. Quantifying the fractional occupancy (FO) of PD1 by PDL1, and PDL1 by PD1, in tumor can be a potential biomarker. We previously reported on an RNA aptamer-based assay platform called the Ligand-Receptor Complex Aptamer (LIRECAP) assay that quantifies FO of a receptor by its ligand. Here, we describe a 3-color LIRECAP assay designed to quantify PD1 occupancy by PDL1 and PDL1 occupancy by PD1 in formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue. Methods: (A) Selection of aptamers: RNA aptamers with preferential binding to PD1 (“P” aptamers), PDL1 (“L” aptamers) or PD1-PDL1 complex (“C” aptamers) were selected from single starting library using a variation of the SELEX, we reported previously (PMID: 31383650). Selected aptamers were tested for binding to formalin fixed proteins that stabilized the complex and assured that selected aptamers bound to the targets in FFPE biospecimens. Lead aptamers, namely P17, L42 and C113, were selected for further study based on their preferential binding to formalin fixed PD1, PDL1 and complex respectively. Three TaqMan-based calorimetric probes were designed targeting the unique central regions of P17, L42 and C113. (B) 3-color LIRECAP assay on FFPE tissue: Cell culture samples containing PD1, PDL1 or PD1-PDL1 complex were created by mixing equal numbers of (1) PD1+ Jurkat with PDL1- Raji cells, (2) PD1- Jurkat with PDL1+ Raji cells or (3) PD1+ Jurkat with PDL1+ Raji cells, respectively. Cell blocks were produced using the collodion bag technique, fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin using standard clinical techniques. Scrolls of 10-um were cut, deparaffinized, rehydrated, washed and non-specific binding blocked. An equimolar mix of P17, L42 and C113 aptamers was added, bound aptamers were extracted and their relative concentrations were quantified simultaneously by 3-color TaqMan-based RT-qPCR using a single set of primers. The proportion of each aptamer was calculated as the percentage of each aptamer (P or L or C) relative to the amount of total bound aptamers (P+L+C). Results: Each aptamer bound preferentially (underlined) to its designated target as determined by 3-color assay (mean of 2 independent sets). Unoccupied PD1 only: P17=44%; L42=34%; C18=22% Unoccupied PDL1 only: P17=24%; L42=48%; C18=28% PD1-PDL1 complex: P17=19%; L42=17%; C18=64% Although preferential binding of aptamers was not absolute, simultaneous evaluation of three aptamers in a single assay provided an internal control that can allow for correction for this cross-reactivity. Conclusions and significance: The 3-color LIRECAP assay is capable of quantifying FO of PD1 by PDL1 and PDL1 by PD1 in FFPE samples. Ongoing studies are exploring use of this assay to quantify FO in clinical biospecimens. It will then be used to determine whether PD1 FO might serve as a novel predictive biomarker for anti-PD1 therapy. Citation Format: Suresh Veeramani, Nanmeng Yu, Xian Jin Xie, Kristen Coleman, George J. Weiner. A novel RNA aptamer-based assay for quantifying fractional occupancy of PD1 by PDL1 in formalin fixed biospecimens [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3313.

Effect of nanoparticles in natural fiber reinforced polymer composites

Fiber surface modifications by chemical treatment and matrix modification with nanofillers are two key techniques used in recent times to improve the natural fiber reinforced polymer composite strength. The impact of titanium dioxide (TiO2), magnesium oxide (MgO), and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on the mechanical properties of 6% sodium hydroxide alkali treated kenaf fiber reinforced epoxy composites has been experimentally examined and reported in this research article. All the composite samples were fabricated using vacuum bagging technique, with 35% Fiber weight ratio. The nanofillers were added in 3% weight proportion of total composite weight using ultrasonication method. According to ASTM standards, the prepared samples were evaluated for tensile, flexural, and impact strength. The experimental results showed that, 6% NaOH treatment on kenaf fibers showed 11.2%, 24.9%, 8.4%, and 28.7% improvement on tensile strength, modulus, flexural and impact strength respectively. The addition of different nano particles in the matrix phase performed well on effective stress transfer between fiber layers through matrix layers, hence improvement on mechanical properties were noted.

In Situ Degradation Kinetics of 25 Feedstuffs and the Selection of Time Points in Mathematical Statistics

Rumen degradation kinetics of 25 feedstuffs (six protein feeds, nine energy feeds and ten roughages) were first determined using the nylon bag technique in situ and the differences of degradation characteristics fitted with five or seven time points measuring data were evaluated with the goodness of fit (R2) of degradation curves. Protein and energy feeds were incubated for 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 36, 48 h, roughages were incubated for 4, 8, 16, 24, 36, 48, 72 h, where three and six data sets of five time points were screened out, respectively. Only the degradation parameters a (rapidly degraded proportion), b (slowly degraded proportion) and c (degradation rate of slowly degraded proportion) of several feeds at five time points were significantly different from those at seven time points (p < 0.05), and the others were not significant (p > 0.05). The R2 of the degradation curves obtained at five time points was closer to 1, indicating that the fitting obtained at five time points was more accurate in predicting the real-time rumen degradation rate of feed. These results indicate that it is feasible to determine the rumen degradation characteristics of feedstuffs by only setting five measuring time points.

Effect of Palm Kernel Cake Supplementation on Voluntary Feed Intake, In Situ Rumen Degradability and Performance in Buffaloes in the Eastern Amazon

The objective was to evaluate the effects of palm kernel cake (PKC) supplementation on voluntary feed intake, in situ rumen degradability and performance in the wettest (WS-January to June) and less rainy seasons (LR-July to December) in the eastern Amazon. A total of 52 crossbred buffaloes that were neither lactating nor gestating were used, with 24 for the LR, aged 34 ± 04 months and an initial average weight of 503 ± 48 kg, and 24 for the WS aged 40 ± 04 months with an average weight of 605 ± 56 kg. The four treatments (levels of PKC in relation to body weight) were distributed in a completely randomized design, with 0% (PKC0), 0.25% (PKC0.2), 0.5% (PKC0.5) and 1% (PKC1) with six repetitions. The animals were housed in Marandu grass paddocks, intermittently, with access to water and mineral mixture ad libitum. Degradability was evaluated by the in situ bag technique in four other crossbred buffaloes with rumen cannulae, in a 4 × 4 Latin square (four periods and four treatments). The inclusion of PKC increased supplement consumption and production of ether extracts and reduced the intake of forage and non-fibrous carbohydrates. The dry matter degradability of Marandu grass was not affected; however, the fermentation kinetics in neutral detergent fiber (NDF) differed between the treatments. The co-product dry matter colonization time was greater in PKC1 and the highest effective degradability rates were from PKC0, but the productive performance of the animals was not influenced. Supplementation of buffaloes with PKC is recommended for up to 1% of body weight.

Determination of carbon nanotubes penetration level into epoxy-woven glass fibre composite laminates manufactured with vacuum infusion process via electrical conductivity measurement

ABSTRACT This study investigates the carbon nanotube (CNT) penetration phenomenon in vacuum infusion (VI) process by means of electrical conductivity measurement. Effects of resin temperature, CNT content, and the processing technique on the overall composite laminate quality were investigated by monitoring electrical properties of composite sheets. Epoxy/woven glass fibre composites loaded with various CNT contents were also manufactured using compression moulding and vacuum bagging techniques for comparison purposes. VI was achieved at two different temperatures (25°C and 50°C) to study the effect of variation in viscosity on CNT penetration during infusion. The results showed that electrical conductivity measurement was a very effective tool to assess the CNT penetration state of composite laminates in VI method. Both the resistive and capacitive behaviour in composite laminates due to filtration of CNTs at higher CNT contents was observed. However, the CNT penetration was improved by increasing the temperature of epoxy/CNT mixture before the infusion.

Flammability and vibrational study of graphene incorporated epoxy/ramie/glass hybrid nanocomposite

AbstractHybrid polymer composites are vastly used in aerospace, construction, and automotive fields. This study aims to analyze the flammability and vibrational behavior of graphene incorporated epoxy/ramie/glass (ERG) hybrid nanocomposite. The samples were prepared with different weight percentage of graphene (GR) through hand layup method, followed by vacuum bag technique. The samples were analyzed for water intake, porosity, mechanical strength, fractography, vibrational property together with flammability of the material. GR addition depletes water intake and porosity by 11.5% to 5.3% and 6.2% to 2.2%, respectively. It increases hardness and flexural strength up to 25% and 41%, with a reduction in tensile property of the composites. Besides, GR nanocomposites show improved damping properties, owing to stick‐slip mechanism exhibited at epoxy and GR interface. Also, GR addition declines burning rate of ERG at high concentrations since it does not score any grade in flammability test. This work found that the incorporation of GR in ERG composite enhances mechanical properties and decreases water intake. A decrease in the burning rate of the ERG composite could be achieved by incorporating graphene particles, which could be used for structural applications (car door‐panels, ballistic, and aerospace) leading to delay in burning rate of the developed composites when exposed to fire during accidents.

Investigation of tensile properties, hardness, and morphology of h-BN and MoS 2 filler modified carbon fabric/epoxy composites

The present study aims to improve the tensile and hardness properties of carbon fabric–reinforced epoxy composite (CFEC) by using hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) fillers. Magnetic stirring and ultrasonication were used to disperse fillers in epoxy resin. CFEC, h-BN filled CFEC and MoS2 filled CFEC fabricated as per hand layup and vacuum bag technique. The tensile strength of CFEC was remarkably improved up to 6 wt.% h-BN and MoS2 addition separately in the resin matrix. The maximum tensile strength of 486 MPa and Young’s modulus of 44 GPa were noticed in 6 wt.% h-BN incorporated CFEC displaying 59% and 47% improvements, respectively. The maximum toughness is shown by 6 wt.% MoS2 incorporated CFEC indicating 102% improvement. The uniformly dispersed high-performance filler in the epoxy effectively transferred stress, improving tensile properties. However, filler agglomerates, stress-raising spots, and poor filler–matrix interaction beyond 6 wt.% filler reduced the tensile property improvement. The introduction of h-BN and MoS2 in the composite increased hardness, with 6 wt.% h-BN added CFEC recording the highest hardness denoting 23% greater than the neat CFEC.

An Enhanced Model for the Prediction of Cataract Using Bagging Techniques

An Enhanced Model for the Prediction of Cataract Using Bagging Techniques

Microplastics and leaf litter decomposition dynamics: New insights from a lotic ecosystem (Northeastern Italy)

Microplastics represent one of the main environmental concerns of our time and their presence is well known in all freshwater ecosystems. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the interference with some environmental dynamics, such as the leaf litter decomposition, which represents a key process in freshwater ecosystems. The work presented herein analyzed the leaf litter decomposition in a lotic ecosystem, in relation to water physicochemical parameters, macrobenthic invertebrate functional feeding guilds (FFG) and, as a novelty, the microplastics as additional factor. Physicochemical features were monitored every 15 days for one year. Phragmites australis decomposition rates were investigated during four seasons (summer, autumn, winter, and spring) using the leaf bag technique. Microplastic items were also collected within the leaf bags (used as retaining tool) and within macrobenthic invertebrate colonizers. Shredders were the most contaminated FFG in summer and autumn, while scrapers showed high microplastics levels in autumn and winter. Decomposition rates significantly differed among seasons (0.007 < k < 0.022) and water temperature was the main driver of the decomposition dynamics (relative importance = 70.3 %), positively affecting the decay rates, followed by pH (9.7 %), which showed a negative contribution. Microplastics showed a negative effect (3.1 %), with a relative importance similar and opposite to that observed for the shredders (3.9 %), which value was similar to those recorded for scarpers (2.7 %). This study represents a field investigation regarding the microplastic effects on the organic matter decomposition rates in freshwater environments carried out directly on field. Our results provide new insights about the microplastic interference on environmental dynamics and could represent a starting point for further studies.