A novel method of manufacturing rigid and robust natural fiber preforms is presented here. This method is based on a papermaking process, whereby loose and short sisal fibers are dispersed into a water suspension containing bacterial cellulose. The fiber and nanocellulose suspension is then filtered (using vacuum or gravity) and the wet filter cake pressed to squeeze out any excess water, follo...

Lightweight composites are preferred for automotive applications due to the weight restrictions and also due to the presence of inherent voids that can enhance the sound absorption of these composites. The density of the reinforcing materials plays a crucial role in such lightweight composites. Milkweed is a unique natural cellulose fiber that has a completely hollow center and low density (0.9...

The search for effective strategies for peripheral nerve regeneration has attracted much attention in recent years. In this study, ordered collagen fibers were used as intraluminal fibers after nerve injury in rats. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in nerve regeneration, but its very fast initial burst of activity within a short time has largely limited its clin...

Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites (NFRCs) have demonstrated great potential for many different applications in various industries due to their advantages compared synthetic fiber-reinforced composites, such as low environmental impact and cost. However, one of the drawbacks is that NFRCs present relatively mechanical properties absorption humidity hydrophilic characteristic natural fi...

We introduce two K-theories, one for vector bundles whose fibers are modules of vertex operator algebras, another for vector bundles whose fibers are modules of associative algebras. We verify the cohomological properties of these K-theories, and construct a natural homomorphism from the VOA K-theory to the associative algebra K-theory.

The application of cellulose nanowhiskers in polymeric composites is growing due to its good properties, which expands the applicability in the industrial sector, although many studies are still in the laboratory stage. Silva, R. et al. cites many segments for application of natural cellulosic fibers, wide applicability detaching, from textile industry to some studies for the use of fibers such...

Bioactive gibberellins (GAs) comprise an important class of natural plant growth regulators and play essential roles in cotton fiber development. To date, the molecular base of GAs' functions in fiber development is largely unclear. To address this question, the endogenous bioactive GA levels in cotton developing fibers were elevated by specifically up-regulating GA 20-oxidase and suppressing G...

Many fibers in biomaterials such as tendon, elastin, or silk feature a nonlinear stiffening behavior of the stress-strain relationship, where the rigidity of the material increases severely as the material is being stretched. Here we show that such nonlinear stiffening is beneficial for a fiber's ability to withstand cracks, leading to a flaw tolerant state in which stress concentrations around...