Enhanced acoustic damping in flexible polyurethane foams filled with carbon nanotubes

The continued threat of emerging, highly lethal infectious pathogens such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) calls for the development of novel vaccine technology that offers safe and effective prophylactic measures. Here, a novel nanoparticle vaccine is developed to deliver subunit viral antigens and STING agonists in a virus-like fashion. STING agonists are first encapsulated into capsid-like hollow polymeric nanoparticles, which show multiple favorable attributes, including a pH-responsive release profile, prominent local immune activation, and reduced systemic reactogenicity. Upon subsequent antigen conjugation, the nanoparticles carry morphological semblance to native virions and facilitate codelivery of antigens and STING agonists to draining lymph nodes and immune cells for immune potentiation. Nanoparticle vaccine effectiveness is supported by the elicitation of potent neutralization antibody and antigen-specific T cell responses in mice immunized with a MERS-CoV nanoparticle vaccine candidate. Using a MERS-CoV-permissive transgenic mouse model, it is shown that mice immunized with this nanoparticle-based MERS-CoV vaccine are protected against a lethal challenge of MERS-CoV without triggering undesirable eosinophilic immunopathology. Together, the biocompatible hollow nanoparticle described herein provides an excellent strategy for delivering both subunit vaccine candidates and novel adjuvants, enabling accelerated development of effective and safe vaccines against emerging viral pathogens.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/adfm.201807616

Viromimetic STING Agonist-Loaded Hollow Polymeric Nanoparticles for Safe and Effective Vaccination against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.

A semiempirical model is presented that predicts surface tensions (σ) of aqueous electrolyte solutions and their mixtures, for concentrations ranging from infinitely dilute solution to molten salt....

Surface tensions of inorganic multicomponent aqueous electrolyte solutions and melts.

Production of superheated steam from vapor-dominated geothermal reservoirs

Feasibility of self-healing in cementitious materials – By using capsules or a vascular system?

Water A Benzene 0 Argon . where, A = yN. At T, Equation 2 satisfies _the boundary condition that as ~ L V 0, exp. ' l B i i q q I ' 0. When ql >> vu, which is a t T << T,, Equation 1 is obtained. I n the vicinity of the critical temperature, when q L makes a sizable contribution, considerable deviations from linearity are observed when Equation 1 is employed. The author selected several liquids where data are available over an appreciable temperature interval to demonstrate the validity of Equation 2. These data are plotted in Figure 1. Apparently, argon is the only liquid for which there are extensive and reliable data near the critical region. Here, the agreement is excellent. The discrepancy between the literature values of for water in the critical temperature region makes the extension of the plot to the region doubtful ( 3 ) . For all the liquids quoted by Pelofsky, as well as those shown in Figure 1, the plots pass through the origin. As has been indicated by Pelofsky, the slope may be an indication of the surface tension of the substance at the temperature where q = a. Table I attempts a correlation between the temperature where q --+ m and the temperature of homogeneous nucleation. Homogeneous nucleation as opposed to heterogeneous nucleation results from a spontaneous phase change without the assistance of impurities. The principal component of the energy barrier in homogeneous nucleation is the thermal energy that keeps two particles from clustering together. A special feature of nucleation phenomena is that in forming particles of a new phase, energy is required to form the new surface. Opposing these forces are the intermolecular attractive forces. When the

Harold Schonhorn

Papers

Surface Tension-Viscosity Relationship for Liquids.