Effect of dietary fibre on the gastrointestinal microbiota during critical illness:A scoping review

The systemic effects of gastrointestinal(GI)microbiota in health and during chronic diseases is increasingly recognised.Dietary strategies to modulate the GI microbiota during chronic diseases have demonstrated promise.While changes in dietary intake can rapidly change the GI microbiota,the impact of dietary changes during acute critical illness on the microbiota remain uncertain.Dietary fibre is metabolised by carbohydrate-active enzymes and,in health,can alter GI microbiota.The aim of this scoping review was to describe the effects of dietary fibre supplementation in health and disease states,specifically during critical illness.Randomised controlled trials and prospective cohort studies that include adults(>18 years age)and reported changes to GI microbiota as one of the study outcomes using non-culture methods,were identified.Studies show dietary fibres have an impact on faecal microbiota in health and disease.The fibre,inulin,has a marked and specific effect on increasing the abundance of faecal Bifidobacteria.Short chain fatty acids produced by Bifidobacteria have been shown to be beneficial in other patient populations.Very few trials have evaluated the effect of dietary fibre on the GI microbiota during critical illness.More research is necessary to establish optimal fibre type,doses,duration of intervention in critical illness.

Setting kinetics and mechanical properties of flax fibre reinforced glass ionomer restorative materials

Regardless of the excellent properties of glass ionomer cements,their poor mechanical properties limit their applications to non-load bearing areas.This study aimed to investigate the effect of incorporated short,chopped and randomly distributed flax fibers（0,0.5,1,2.5,5 and 25 wt%） on setting reaction kinetics,and mechanical and morphological properties of glass ionomer cements.Addition of flax fibers did not significantly affect the setting reaction extent.According to their content,flax fibers increased the compressive（from 148 to 250 MPa） and flexure strength（from 20 to 42 MPa）.They also changed the brittle behavior of glass ionomer cements to a plastic one.They significantly reduced the compressive（from 3 to 1.3 GPa） and flexure modulus（from 19 to 14 GPa）.Accordingly,flax fiber-modified glass ionomer cements could be potentially used in high-stress bearing areas.

Study on Shielding Effectiveness of Fabric for Electromagnetic Wave with Different Inlaid Distances of Metal Fibres

The electremagnetic radicalization has become more serious. The shielding effectiveness of polyester fabrics with different inlaid distance of parallel metal fibres to electromagnetic wave was studied in this paper on special instrument made by ourselves. The results of test show that the fabric with different inlaid distances of metal fibres and the testing angle between electric field plane and parallel metal fibres of have obvious effect on the shielding effectiveness of electromagnetic wave.

Assessing genetic variation in Gossypium barbadense L.germplasm based on fibre characters

Background Gossypium barbadense L.has specific fibre in terms of its length,strength,and fineness,and known as extra-long staple(ELS) cotton,Sea–Island cotton,or Egyptian cotton.Narrow genetic base with less genetic variability is observed in G.barbadense germplasm.Hence,this study was aimed to evaluate the genetic variability present in 108 germplasm accessions of G.barbadense and to identify the superior genotypes based on the fibre traits.Results We evaluated 108 accessions for five fibre quality traits along with three checks in augmented block design.All fibre traits showed significant differences among genotypes,indicating that there is genetic potential for improvement.Fibre strength and micronaire(MIC) showed high phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation.High heritability combined with high genetic advance as percentage of mean(GAM) was recorded for fibre length,strength,and micronaire.Fibre strength and fibre length were significantly correlated with each other,while both showed negative correlation with micronaire.Principal component analysis and Biplot analysis showed that uniformity index discriminated all the genotypes in higher level,while fibre length and strength were medium in discrimination power.Biplot revealed genotypes DB 16,EC959191,GSB 39,ARBB 20,5746U,EA 203,and EA 201 were genetically diverse.Hierarchal cluster analysis based on unweighted paired group method using arithmetic average(UPGMA) grouped the genotypes into four clusters,with each cluster consisting of 4,18,48,and 38 genotypes,respectively.Conclusion Among the genotypes,34 for fibre length(> 35 mm),18 for fibre strength(> 40.4 g·tex^(-1)) and 66 for micronaire(3.7-4.2,A grade) were identified as potential accessions based on their superiority.The superior fibre genotypes identified in this study are potential lines for the ELS cotton breeding program.

Effects of supplementary urea-minerals lick block on the kinetics of fibre digestion, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of low quality roughages

Three yearling lambs with a rumen cannula were used to investigate the effects of supplementation with an urea-minerals lick block （ULB） on the kinetics of ruminal fibre digestion, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen （N） utilization office straw （RS）, ammonia bicarbonate （AB）-treated RS （ABRS） and hay prepared from natural pasture. The digestibility of dry matter and organic matter of RS increased by 13.1% and 12.7% （P〈0.05） when the diet was supplemented with ULB, and approached to that of ABRS, indicating that the effect of ULB on digestibility of RS is similar to that of AB treatment. The digestibility of ABRS was slightly improved by the ULB feeding. Nitrogen retention was highest in lambs fed on ABRS alone, followed by hay with ULB, and was lowest in animals fed on RS with ULB. However, both the amount and proportion of N retention to N intake were enhanced by ULB supplementation to lambs fed on hay. The proportion of N retained to N digested decreased due to ULB supplementation to lambs fed on RS or ABRS. Supplementing ULB did not greatly influence the rumen degradation of either dry matter or crude protein in each of the three diets. RS and hay had similar values in the potential extent of digestion （PED） and digestion rate of PED （kd） of fibrous materials, but the discrete lag time for RS was lower than that for hay. The AB treatment significantly increased the PED （P〈0.05） and kd （P〈0.05） of RS. Neither the PED nor kd for RS and ABRS was influenced by ULB supplementation, but the kd for hay significantly increased due to ULB. The lag time for hay was also shortened by the ULB feeding. The ULB improved the digestion of fibre in the rumen of lambs fed on low quality roughage. It is inferred that while ULB is effective in increasing nutrient digestibility of low quality roughages by improving ruminal fibre digestion. A synchronized supply of N and energy to rumen microbes should be considered to improve the efficiency of N utilization when the basal diet is ammoniated straw.

Concurrent Material Selection of Natural Fibre Filament for Fused Deposition Modeling Using Integration of Analytic Hierarchy Process/Analytic Network Process

The employment of natural fibres in fused deposition modeling has raised much attention from researchers in finding a suitable formulation for the natural fibre composite filaments.Moreover,selection of suitable natural fibres for fused deposition modeling should be performed before the development of the composites.It could not be performed without identifying selection criteria that comprehend both materials and fused deposition modeling process requirements.Therefore,in this study,integration of the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP)/Analytic Network Process(ANP)has been introduced in selecting the natural fibres based in different clusters of selection concurrently.The selection process has been performed based on the interdependency among the selection criteria.Pairwise comparison matrices are constructed based on AHP’s hierarchical model and super matrices are constructed based on the ANP’s network model.As a result,flax fibre has ranked at the top of the selection by scored 19.5%from the overall evaluation.Flax fibre has excellent material properties and been found in various natural fibre composite applications.Further investigation is needed to study the compatibility of this fibre to be reinforced with a thermoplastic polymer matrix to develop a resultant natural fibre composite filament for fused deposition modeling.

A Model of Magneto-mechano-optical Transfer in Fibre-optic Magnetic Sensors with Magnetostrictive Films

Fibre-optic magnetic sensors with magnetostrictive films are used as all-fibre Mach-Zehnder interferometer to detect the optical phase shift,which is caused by the magnetostriction-induced strains transferred from the magnetostrictive film to the fibre.A theoretical model based on the plane strain approximation and uniform axial strain is developed to determine the magneto-mechano-optical transfer relations in this kind of sensors.The expression for the model is presented as well as relation of the phase shift in the fibre to the magnetic and elastic properties of the magnetostrictive film coated on the fibre.And from the model,the thickness of the film has significant influence on the phase shift.

Production of Biodiesel from Cottonseed Oil over Aminated Flax Fibres Catalyst: Kinetic and Thermodynamic Behaviour and Biodiesel Properties

The transesterification of cottonseed oil in the presence of methanol to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) using flax-based fibres catalyst modified with an alkaline moiety was studied. The catalyst was prepared by radiation induced grafting (RIG) of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto dignified flax fibres followed by amination with diethylamine (DEA) and treatment with NaOH solution. A maximum FAME conversion of 88.6% was obtained at 60°;C with a catalyst dosage of 2.5 wt%, an oil/methanol ratio of 1:33 and a time of 2 h. The biodiesel quality was verified by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). Kinetic analysis showed a reaction activation energy of 69.33 kJ·molˉ1 and a rate constant of 0.00349 minˉ1 indicating that the catalytic reaction was kinetically controlled. Thermodynamic analyses revealed that the reaction was reversible, non-spontaneous and endothermic with an enthalpy of 66.62 kJ·molˉ1. The obtained biodiesel showed physical and chemical characteristics complying with ASTM D6751. It can be concluded that the alkaline biopolymer catalyst prepared in the present study is a promising green candidate for biodiesel production.

China Builds Optical Fibre Tele-trunk Network

In early 1995 China began to build eight optical fibre cable trunks, including the 4,532km-long Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Guiyang-Chengdu trunk in southern China, the 2,133km-long Beijing-Hohhot-Yinchuan-Lanzhou trunk in the northern part of the country, and the 3,000km-long Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou trunk across the country. They will be put into use by the end of the year, thus finalizing the construction of 22 A-

Comparative impact behaviours of ultra high performance concrete columns reinforced with polypropylene vs steel fibres

Polypropylene(PP) fibres have primarily used to control shrinkage cracks or mitigate explosive spalling in concrete structures exposed to fire or subjected to impact/blast loads, with limited investigations on capacity improvement. This study unveils the possibility of using PP micro-fibres to improve the impact behaviour of fibre-reinforced ultra-high-performance concrete(FRUHPC) columns. Results show that the addition of fibres significantly improves the impact behaviour of FRUHPC columns by shifting the failure mechanism from brittle shear to favourable flexural failure. The addition of steel or PP fibres affected the impact responses differently. Steel fibres considerably increased the peak impact force(up to 18%) while PP micro-fibres slightly increased the peak(3%-4%). FRUHPC significantly reduced the maximum midheight displacement by up to 30%(under 20°impact) and substantially improved the displacement recovery by up to 100%(under 20° impact). FRUHPC with steel fibres significantly improved the energy absorption while those with PP micro-fibres reduced the energy absorption, which is different from the effect of PP-macro fibre reported in the literature. The optimal fibre content for micro-PP fibres is 1% due to its minimal fibre usage and low peak and residual displacement. This study highlights the potential of FRUHPC as a promising material for impact-resistant structures by creating a more favourable flexural failure mechanism, enhancing ductility and toughness under impact loading, and advancing the understanding of the role of fibres in structural performance.

Path-Dependent Progressive Failure Analysis for 3D-Printed Continuous Carbon Fibre Reinforced Composites

In order to predict the damage behaviours of 3D-printed continuous carbon fibre(CCF)reinforced composites,when additional short carbon fibre(SCF)composite components are employed for continuous printing or special functionality,a novel path-dependent progressive failure(PDPF)numerical approach is developed.First,a progressive failure model using Hashin failure criteria with continuum damage mechanics to account for the damage initiation and evaluation of 3D-printed CCF reinforced polyamide(PA)composites is developed,based on actual fibre placement trajectories with physical measurements of 3D-printed CCF/PA constituents.Meanwhile,an elastic-plastic model is employed to predict the plastic damage behaviours of SCF/PA parts.Then,the accuracy of the PDPF model was validated so as to study 3D-printed CCF/PA composites with either negative Poisson's ratio or high stiffness.The results demonstrate that the proposed PDPF model can achieve higher prediction accuracies in mechanical properties of these 3D-printed CCF/PA composites.Mechanism analyses show that the stress distribution is generally aggregated in the CCF areas along the fibre placement paths,and the shear damage and matrix tensile/compressive damage are the key damage modes.This study provides a new approach with valuable information for characterising complex 3D-printed continuous fibre-matrix composites with variable mechanical properties and multiple constituents.

In Situ Polymer Gel Electrolyte in Boosting Scalable Fibre Lithium Battery Applications

The poor interfacial stability not only deteriorates fibre lithium-ion batteries(FLBs)performance but also impacts their scalable applications.To efficiently address these challenges,Prof.Huisheng Peng team proposed a generalized channel structures strategy with optimized in situ polymerization technology in their recent study.The resultant FLBs can be woven into different-sized powering textiles,providing a high energy density output of 128 Wh kg^(-1) and simultaneously demonstrating good durability even under harsh conditions.Such a promising strategy expands the horizon in developing FLB with particular polymer gel electrolytes,and significantly ever-deepening understanding of the scaled wearable energy textile system toward a sustainable future.

Overview of Jute Fibre as Thermoplastic Matrix Polymer Reinforcement

Recent decades have seen a substantial increase in interest in research on natural fibres that is aligned with sustainable development goals(SDGs).Due to their renewable resources and biodegradability,natural fiberreinforced composites have been investigated as a sustainable alternative to synthetic materials to reduce the usage of hazardous waste and environmental pollution.Among the natural fibre,jute fibre obtained from a bast plant has an increasing trend in the application,especially as a reinforcement material.Numerous research works have been performed on jute fibre with regard to reinforced thermoset and thermoplastic composites.Nevertheless,current demands on sustainable materials have required new developments in thermoplastic composites.In this paper,the author reviews jute plants as reinforcement materials for thermoplastic matrix polymers.This review provides an overview of the sustainability of jute plants as reinforcement material for thermoplastic matrix polymers.The overview on jute based thermoplastic composites focused on the thermal behavior and mechanical properties.Apart from physical,chemical,and mechanical properties,the study also covers the current and perspectives for future research challenges faced by the researchers on jute fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites.

Optical Fibre Communication Feature Analysis and Small Sample Fault Diagnosis Based on VMD-FE and Fuzzy Clustering

To solve the problems of a few optical fibre line fault samples and the inefficiency of manual communication optical fibre fault diagnosis,this paper proposes a communication optical fibre fault diagnosis model based on variational modal decomposition(VMD),fuzzy entropy(FE)and fuzzy clustering(FC).Firstly,based on the OTDR curve data collected in the field,VMD is used to extract the different modal components(IMF)of the original signal and calculate the fuzzy entropy(FE)values of different components to characterize the subtle differences between them.The fuzzy entropy of each curve is used as the feature vector,which in turn constructs the communication optical fibre feature vector matrix,and the fuzzy clustering algorithm is used to achieve fault diagnosis of faulty optical fibre.The VMD-FE combination can extract subtle differences in features,and the fuzzy clustering algorithm does not require sample training.The experimental results show that the model in this paper has high accuracy and is relevant to the maintenance of communication optical fibre when compared with existing feature extraction models and traditional machine learning models.

Study on the Effect of Operating Parameters on Water Yield of Hollow Fibre Vacuum Membrane Distillation Using CFD Simulation and Response Surface Methodology

Coal chemical bases in Northwest China are suffering from geographical water scarcity and a large amount of highly saline wastewater that needs to be treated during the production process, resulting in water and energy consumption becoming a key issue in the process of confined zero discharge. Membrane distillation is a thermally driven water treatment technology that can achieve higher water production efficiency and lower energy consumption by using hollow fibre membrane distillation in combination with a vacuum permeation side. In this study, CFD simulation calculations and response surface method analysis of hollow fibre membrane modules were carried out to further reveal the effects of different process operating parameters on water yield and the interactions between the operating parameters. It was found that the influence of the parameters on the membrane flux was as follows: feed inlet temperature > vacuum pressure ≈ feed inlet flow rate > feed inlet sanility, and the optimal operating parameters were predicted to be vacuum pressure of 38.88 kPa, feed solution temperature of 353.15 K, feed solution concentration of 4.13%, and inlet velocity of 0.60 m/s, which achieve membrane flux of 38.90 kg∙m−2∙h−1 according to the response surface method. This study provides more in-depth theoretical guidance for the application of hollow fibre vacuum membrane distillation technology in the treatment of coal chemical high salt wastewater.

BTMA’s advanced fibre focus at Techtextil 2024

New fibres continue to be developed for a wide range of technical textile applications.Currently,they include fibres based on organic or recycled feedstocks to meet sustainability targets and others with new functional properties for advanced high performance applications.Many of them were showcased at the forthcoming Techtextil 2024 exhibition which takes place in Frankfurt,Germany,from April 23-26.The development of specific multifilaments,monofilaments and nonwovens for niche fibre applications–over 70 to date–is very much the specialist field of BTMA member Fibre Extrusion Technologies(FET),along with designing the bespoke fibre extrusion and spunbond and meltblown nonwoven systems to successfully produce them.

Fabrication of SiC fibres from yttrium-containing polycarbosilane

The yttrium as a sintering aid was introduced into polycarbosilane（PCS） to prepare yttrium-containing PCS（PYCS）.Two types of yttrium-containing SiC fibres,the SiC（OY） fibres and the SiC（Y） fibres,were fabricated with PYCS.The structural evolution and the associated properties on changing from SiC（OY） to SiC（Y） fibres during the sintering process were studied.The chemical composition of the SiC（OY） fibres is SiC1.53O0.22Y0.005 with an amorphous structure.The composition of SiC（Y） fibres is SiC1.23O0.05Y0.005.The fibres are composed of a large number of β-SiC crystallites with a size of 50 nm and a small amount of α-SiC crystalline.The tensile strength and fracture toughness of the SiC（OY） fibres are 2.25 GPa and 2.37 MPa·m1/2,respectively,and 1.61 GPa,1.91 MPa·m1/2,respectively for SiC（Y） fibres.The SiC（Y） fibres have a higher thermal stability than the SiC（OY） fibres.

Caustics study of the effect of glass fibres on dynamic fracture of hardened cement paste

The reflected optical caustics method is applied to study dynamic fracture problems in hardened cement paste. First both the unreinforced cement paste and the glass fibres reinforced cement paste specimens were fabricated and the reflective coating on the surface of the specimen was prepared. Secondly the crack path and the shadow spot patterns during the crack propagation process for the two specimens were recorded by using a multi-spark high speed camera.Thirdly some dynamic parameters of two cement paste specimens including crack onset time the dynamic stress intensity factor and crack growth velocity were determined and analyzed comparatively.This indicates that the glass fibres can improve the fracture resistance and delay fracture time.These results will play an important role in evaluating the dynamic fracture properties of cement paste.

Experiment and simulation of creep performance of basalt fibre asphalt mortar under uniaxial compressive loadings

The creep performance of basalt fibre（BF）reinforced in asphalt mortar under uniaxial compressive loadings is investigated. The samples of basalt fibre asphalt mortar（BFAM） with different BF mass fractions（0. 1%,0. 2%, and 0. 5%） and without BF in asphalt mixture are prepared, and then submitted for the compressive strength test and corresponding creep test at a high in-service temperature.Besides, numerical simulations in finite element ABAQUS software were conducted to model the compressive creep test of mortar materials, where the internal structure of the fibre mortar was assumed to be a two-component composite material model such as fibre and mortar matrix. Finally, the influence factors of rheological behaviors of BFAM are further analyzed. Results indicate that compared to the control sample, the compressive strength of BFAM samples has a significant increase, and the creep and residual deformation are decreased. However, it also shows that the excessive fibre, i.e. with the BF content of 0. 5%, is unfavorable to the high-temperature stability of the mortar. Based on the analysis results, the prediction equations of parameters of the Burgers constitutive model for BFAM are proposed by considering the fibre factors.

Fracture Properties of Cement Composites Reinforced with Steel Polypropylene Hybrid Fibres

Polypropylene fibres and three sizes of steel fibres reinforced concrete are discussed. The total fibres content ranges from 0 4%-0 95% by volume of concrete. A four point bending test is adopted on the notched prisms with the size of 100?mm×100?mm×500?mm to investigate the effect of hybrid fibres on crack arresting. The research results show that there is a positive synergy effect between large steel fibres and polypropylene fibres on the load bearing capacity in the small displacement range. But this synergy effect disappears in the large displacement range. The large and strong steel fibre is better than soft polypropylene fibre and small steel fibre in the aspect of energy absorption capacity in the large displacement range. The static usage limitation for the hybrid fibres concrete with “wide peak' or “multi peaks' load CMOD pattern should be carefully selected. The ultimate load bearing capacity and the crack width or CMOD at this load level should be jointly considered.