Effect of Spent Coffee Grounds on the Crystallinity and Viscoelastic Behavior of Polylactic Acid Composites.

This work investigated the addition of spent coffee grounds (SCG) as a valuable resource to produce biocomposites based on polylactic acid (PLA). PLA has a positive biodegradation effect but generates poor proprieties, depending on its molecular structure. The PLA and SCG (0, 10, 20 and 30 wt.

Waste Paper as a Valuable Resource: An Overview of Recent Trends in the Polymeric Composites Field.

This review focuses on polymeric waste-paper composites, including state-of-the-art analysis with quantitative and qualitative discussions. Waste paper is a valuable cellulose-rich material, produced mainly from office paper, newspaper, and paper sludge, which can be recycled and returned to paper production or used in a new life cycle. A systematic literature review found 75 publications on this material over the last 27 years, with half of those published during the last five years.

The 'healthy side' of anosognosia for hemiplegia: Increased sense of agency for the unimpaired limb or motor compensation?

Objectives: Anosognosic patients show a lack of awareness for their hemiplegia coupled with a distorted sense of agency for the actions performed by the plegic limbs. Since anosognosia is often associated with right brain damage, this hemisphere seems to play a dominant role in monitoring awareness for motor actions. Therefore, we would expect that anosognosic patients show distorted awareness and sense of agency also for actions performed with the unimpaired limb.

Effect of chemical treatment of pineapple crown fiber in the production, chemical composition, crystalline structure, thermal stability and thermal degradation kinetic properties of cellulosic materials.

Recently, the growing environmental concerns and economic demands have driven the need to develop effective solutions for the treatment of vegetal fibers to be used as renewable source for various industrial applications. The present study aimed to explore pineapple crown fibers (PCs) as an alternative source of cellulose. The three treatments (alcohol-insoluble residue (AIR), alkaline (AT), and organosolv) evaluated promoted chemical and morphological changes to the PCs.

Synchronous stimulation in the rubber hand illusion task boosts the subsequent sense of ownership on the vicarious agency task.

The relationship between sense of agency and sense of ownership remains unclear. Here we investigated this relationship by manipulating ownership using the rubber hand illusion and assessing the resulting impact on self-experiences during the vicarious agency illusion. We tested whether modulating ownership towards another limb using the rubber hand illusion would subsequently influence the illusory experience of ownership and agency towards a similar-looking limb in the vicarious agency task.

Obtainment and characterization of nanocellulose from an unwoven industrial textile cotton waste: Effect of acid hydrolysis conditions.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have a promising application in many advanced products, such as biomedical applications and hydrogels. In this research, industrial cotton waste was treated using alkali and bleaching to eliminate hemicellulose, lignin, and other amorphous contents. The efficiency of these treatments was proven by chemical compositions analysis, which showed an increase in cellulose percentage with the progression of treatments.

Effect of different degradation types on properties of plastic waste obtained from espresso coffee capsules.

In terms of large use of plastic products, a necessity exists to minimize effects of the waste produced on environment by recycling, reuse and application in new products. In Brazil, the espresso coffee capsules are an emerging plastic waste, representing 0.9% of the coffee consumed in 2017.

A Network-Theoretic Analysis of Hospital Admission, Transfer, and Discharge Data.

Comprehending complex behavior of flow within a graph is of interest to clinicians and mathematicians alike. In this study we examine admission, discharge, and transfer data of patients within a hospital system, and process the importance of nodes through several graph metrics. One common metric, which measures population densities through a continuous time Markov process, will be compared against centrality measures, a technique more often used in social media studies.

Preparation of nanocellulose from Imperata brasiliensis grass using Taguchi method.

Cellulose nanoparticles (CNs) were prepared by acid hydrolysis of the cellulose pulp extracted from the Brazilian satintail (Imperata Brasiliensis) plant using a conventional and a total chlorine free method. Initially, a statistical design of experiment was carried out using Taguchi orthogonal array to study the hydrolysis parameters, and the main properties (crystallinity, thermal stability, morphology, and sizes) of the nanocellulose. X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were carried out to characterize the physical-chemical properties of the CNs obtained.

Ageing and agency: age-related changes in susceptibility to illusory experiences of control.

Sense of agency (SoAg) is the feeling of control over one's actions and their effects. It can be augmented or attenuated by internal signals and by external cues. Research has shown a reduction in the SoAg in older adulthood, but the reasons behind this change remain unclear.

'Am I moving?' An illusion of agency and ownership in mirror-touch synaesthesia.

Mirror-touch synaesthesia (MTS) is a condition that leads people to experience tactile sensations on their own body when watching at someone else being touched. Recent accounts postulate that MTS is linked with atypical self-other representations. It has been suggested that this may be associated with disturbances in two main components of self-awareness: sense of agency and sense of ownership.

Mirror-touch synaesthesia: Difficulties inhibiting the other.

Individuals with mirror touch synaesthesia (MTS) experience touch on their own body when observing others being touched. A recent account proposes that such rare experiences could be linked to impairment in self-other representations. Here we tested participants with MTS on a battery of social cognition tests and found that compared to non-synaesthete controls, the MTS group showed impairment in imitation-inhibition but not in visual perspective taking or theory of mind.

Improving left spatial neglect through music scale playing.

The study assessed whether the auditory reference provided by a music scale could improve spatial exploration of a standard musical instrument keyboard in right-brain-damaged patients with left spatial neglect. As performing music scales involves the production of predictable successive pitches, the expectation of the subsequent note may facilitate patients to explore a larger extension of space in the left affected side, during the production of music scales from right to left. Eleven right-brain-damaged stroke patients with left spatial neglect, 12 patients without neglect, and 12 age-matched healthy participants played descending scales on a music keyboard.