Dimensional Stability and Moisture Properties of Gap-Fillers Based on Wood Powder and Glass Microballoons

ABSTRACT

Conservation of wooden objects exposed outdoors is extremely difficult and complex due to their constant exposure to fluctuating weather conditions and biological degradation. Filling the gaps in such objects requires the use of specific materials that in particular can adapt to changes in wood dimensions in response to humidity variations. Various materials have been used so far for filling voids in wooden artefacts but none of them was entirely suitable. Therefore, the authors have attempted to provide the basic characteristics of the selected commonly used filling materials based on pine wood powder or glass microballoons as fillers and Paraloid® B-72, Klucel® G, or glutin glue as binders, as the first step in research aiming at developing new and more appropriate gap-fillers. Special attention was paid to the dimensional stability of filling materials upon drying and exposure to water vapour and liquid water. The overall results indicate that among the examined fills those consisting of Paraloid® B-72 and glass microballoons revealed best properties as they were relatively dimensionally stable upon drying and exposure to moisture – despite high absorption of water – and were quite easy to finish. Generally, better properties were observed for filling materials containing higher concentrations of adhesives and these materials will be modified in the next step of the research. Since the main drawbacks of the examined gap-fillers were low water resistance, poor dimensional stability upon drying or exposure to water vapour or liquid water, and fragility or friability, future research into their modification will head towards improvement of the above-mentioned properties.     

Digital competences of residents in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in the light of the polish training project “E-active”

Education and Information Technologies - The purpose of the article is to describe the trainings implemented as part of the project “E-Active Residents of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian and...     

Metacognitive experience on Raven’s matrices versus insight problems

Metacognition and Learning - Participants rated Intuition, Suddenness, Pleasure, and Certainty accompanying their solutions to items of a popular fluid intelligence test – Raven’s...     

Off-field spectacle: Polish contemporary art and the national game (1921–2012)

This essay examines the relationships between football and art in Poland since the launch of the first 1921 Polish Football Championship until 2012, when the European Cup was held in Poland and Ukraine, testifying to a veritable craze for the national game, and cementing football’s place in cultural discourse. From pre-war painterly references to football, through Neo-avant-garde tendencies in the 1970s, to young Polish art, football has signified multiple meanings within national/transnational and gender discourse. Through the lens of artistic references to football this paper aims to comment on the cultural and social conditions around masculinity and star culture, and to reflect the broader social and political currents of contemporary Poland.     

Influence of short-term inertial training on swimming performance in young swimmers

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of dry-land inertial training (IT) on muscle force, muscle power, and swimming performance. Fourteen young, national-level, competitive swimmers were randomly divided into IT and control (C) groups. The experiment lasted four weeks, during which time both groups underwent their regular swimming training. In addition, the IT group underwent IT using the Inertial Training Measurement System (ITMS) three times per week. The muscle groups involved during the upsweep phase of the arm stroke in front crawl and butterfly stroke were trained. Before and after training, muscle force and power were measured under IT conditions. Simultaneously with the biomechanical measurements on the ITMS, the electrical activity of the triceps brachii was registered. After four weeks of training, a 12.8% increase in the muscle force and 14.2% increase in the muscle power (p?<?.05) were noted in the IT group. Moreover, electromyography amplitude of triceps brachii recorded during strength measurements increased by 22.7% in the IT group. Moreover, swimming velocity in the 100?m butterfly and 50?m freestyle improved significantly following the four weeks of dry-land IT (?1.86% and ?0.76%, respectively). Changes in the C group were trivial. Moreover, values of force and power registered during the ITMS test correlated negatively with the 100?m butterfly and 50?m freestyle swimming times (r value ranged from ?.80 to ?.91). These results suggest that IT can be useful in swimming practice.     

Compressed sensing for real measurements of quaternion signals

The paper concerns compressed sensing methods in the quaternion algebra. We prove that it is possible to uniquely reconstruct – by ?₁ norm minimization – a sparse quaternion signal from a limited number of its real linear measurements, provided the measurement matrix satisfies so-called restricted isometry property with a sufficiently small constant. We also provide error estimates for the approximated reconstruction of a non-sparse quaternion signal from noisy and noiseless data.     

Demographic variables and fathers' involvement with their child with disabilities

The main purpose of this study is to examine whether fathers' involvement with their child with disabilities is correlated with some of the demographic variables. Data were collected from 243 Polish fathers who were married and who had at least one child with disabilities. The issue was assessed by two measures: a Questionnaire and the Father Involvement Scale. The results of the multiple regression show that fathers' involvement is significantly (P < 0.05) correlated with the level of fathers' concentration on the needs of their child with disabilities, the level of fathers' cooperation with their wives, the number of years during which parents cared for a child with disabilities, time devoted by fathers daily for their child with disabilities, fathers' self‐esteem, fathers' education, the level of disability of a child, the level of fathers' skills in dealing with their child with disabilities and the level of fathers' knowledge about their child with disabilities. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/XpTojch0j9Y     

Plasma centrifugation does not influence thrombin-antithrombin and plasmin-antiplasmin levels but determines platelet microparticles count

Introduction

Centrifugation is an essential step for plasma preparation to remove residual elements in plasma, especially platelets and platelet-derived microparticles (PMPs). Our working hypothesis was that centrifugation as a preanalytical step may influence some coagulation parameters.

Materials and methods

Healthy young men were recruited (N = 17). For centrifugation, two protocols were applied: (A) the first centrifugation at 2500 x g for 15 min and (B) at 2500 x g for 20 min at room temperature with a light brake. In protocol (A), the second centrifugation was carried out at 2500 x g for 15 min, whereas in protocol (B), the second centrifugation involved a 10 min spin at 13,000 x g. Thrombin-antithrombin (TAT) and plasmin-antiplasmin (PAP) complexes concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. PMPs were stained with CD41 antibody and annexin V, and analyzed by flow cytometry method. Procoagulant activity was assayed by the Calibrated Automated Thrombogram method as a slope of thrombin formation (CAT velocity).

Results

Median TAT and PAP concentrations did not differ between the centrifugation protocols. The high speed centrifugation reduced the median (IQR) PMP count in plasma from 1291 (841-1975) to 573 (391-1010) PMP/µL (P = 0.001), and CAT velocity from 2.01 (1.31-2.88) to 0.97 (0.82-1.73) nM/min (P = 0.049). Spearman’s rank correlation analysis showed correlation between TAT and PMPs in the protocol A plasma which was (rho = 0.52, P < 0.050) and between PMPs and CAT for protocol A (rho = 0.74, P < 0.050) and protocol B (rho = 0.78, P < 0.050).

Conclusion

Centrifugation protocols do not influence the markers of plasminogen (PAP) and thrombin (TAT) generation but they do affect the PMP count and procoagulant activity.Key words: cell-derived microparticles, blood coagulation tests, centrifugation, preanalytical phase