Search results for "amer"
showing 10 items of 2105 documents
What to avoid to succeed as an entrepreneur
2015
Abstract Entrepreneurship is a driver of economic growth and development. This study highlights the importance of entrepreneurship in emerging countries and examines entrepreneurs' characteristics in these countries. In particular, the study explains what entrepreneurs should avoid to succeed in Latin America. An empirical study analyzes factors that relate to businesses and entrepreneurs in El Salvador, one of the Latin American countries with the lowest rates of business success. In the study, business factors consist of the use of formal and informal advisory services and the degree of innovation. Variables that relate to the entrepreneur are educational attainment and the demographic va…
Using high-potential firms as the key to achieving territorial development
2016
Abstract This study examines which entrepreneurial antecedents like education, gender, motivation, and age; and environmental variables like citizen insecurity enable high-potential firms to establish themselves and act as the key to territorial development. The inclusion of the variable citizen insecurity is unusual, but several authors note how a violent context can affect entrepreneurial activity in Latin America. Insecurity generates massive expenses for entrepreneurs, who must invest to protect themselves against violence and cover the extraordinary expenses arising from this violence. The data analysis technique is fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), a powerful techniq…
Pluronic nanoparticles as anti-oxidant carriers for polymers
2016
Abstract The immobilization of anti-oxidant stabilizers for polymers, particularly naturally occurring systems, can be considered a valuable route for preventing their migration, volatilization, thermo-degradation and decomposition at typical high processing temperatures, as well as for enhance their solubility in polymers. In this work, an innovative approach for the immobilization of naturally occurring stabilizer, through the encapsulation in copolymer nanoparticles, is proposed. Pluronic nanoparticles (PNPs), based on PEO-PPO-PEO, (PEO: poly (ethylene oxide); PPO: poly(propylene oxide)), without and with quercetin, Q, have been successfully formulated and the critical micellar condition…
Polymeric micelles as a new generation of anti-oxidant carriers
2017
A promising strategy to immobilize a natural stabilizer in polymeric films is presented. Par-Ticularly, nevadensin (N, a natural basil flavonoid) molecules have been encapsulated in Pluronic F-127 micelles [F127, a triblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide)] and the obtained nanoparticles have been introduced in poly(ethylene glycol), PEG [otherwise known as poly(ethylene oxide), PEO]. In order to verify the effectiveness of the micelles as anti-oxidant carriers, PEG-based films have been subjected to artificial weathering. The encapsulation of anti-oxidant molecules allows the enhancement of N solubility in PEG, leading to advanced materials with enh…
Functional response of novel bioprotective poloxamer-structured vesicles on inflamed skin
2017
[EN] Resveratrol and gallic acid, a lipophilic and a hydrophilic phenol, were co-loaded in innovative, biocompatible nanovesicles conceived for ensuring the protection of the skin from oxidative-and inflammatory-related affections. The basic vesicles, liposomes and glycerosomes, were produced by a simple, one-step method involving the dispersion of phospholipid and phenols in water or water/glycerol blend, respectively. Liposomes and glycerosomes were modified by the addition of poloxamer, a stabilizer and viscosity enhancer, thus obtaining viscous or semisolid dispersions of structured vesicles. The vesicles were spherical, unilamellar and small in size (similar to 70 nm in diameter). The …
Preparation, characterization and in vitro antimicrobial activity of ampicillin-loaded polyethylcyanoacrylate nanoparticles.
1998
In this paper, the experimental conditions for preparing ampicillin-loaded polyethylcyanoacrylate (PECA) nanoparticles are described. The effects of drug concentration and surfactant type in the polymerization medium on the particle size distribution and loading capacity were studied. The results of these studies show that only the type of surfactant has an impact on the nanoparticle dimensions. The release rate of ampicillin from PECA nanoparticles at pH 7.4 (extracellular value pH) performed either with and without esterases, show that the drug release is considerably increased in the presence of these exzymes. The results of drug release study at pH 1.1 (simulated gastric juice) are very…
Implantable Sensors Based on Gold Nanoparticles for Continuous Long-Term Concentration Monitoring in the Body.
2021
Implantable sensors continuously transmit information on vital values or biomarker concentrations in bodily fluids, enabling physicians to survey disease progression and monitor therapeutic success. However, currently available technologies still face difficulties with long-term operation and transferability to different analytes. We show the potential of a generalizable platform based on gold nanoparticles embedded in a hydrogel for long-term implanted biosensing. Using optical imaging and an intelligent sensor/reference-design, we assess the tissue concentration of kanamycin in anesthetized rats by interrogating our implanted sensor noninvasively through the skin. Combining a tissue-integ…
Dispersions of nanosilica in biocompatible copolymers
2010
Dispersions of nanosilica in matrices of biocompatible copolymers were prepared by melt blending. Copolymers with variable molecular size at fixed hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio and nanosilicas with different interfacial areas were studied. For comparison, a nanoclay was also investigated. The interfacial area played a relevant role in conferring peculiar properties on the nanohybrids. Amazingly, the macromolecule adsorbed on the nanosilica surface maintains some crystallinity which was quantitatively evaluated. In contrast, all the macromolecule anchored to the nanoclay surface is amorphous. The change of the crystalline state was reflected in the dielectric and the electrical conductivity …
Thermal camera calibration with cooled down chessboard
2019
International audience; Calibration of a camera have various applications in computer vision. This process is particularly challenging with a thermal camera instead of a standard color one. A calibration target with two layers of different thermal emissivity is commonly used but reflects appear and degrade the corner extraction of the chessboard. While traditional and commonly used methods heat the target chessboard, we cool it down that inverts the distribution of emission of the two layers. The reflects on the reflective layer enhance the contrast instead of decreasing it. Experiments on various configurations and orientations demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method.
CMOS Photodiode Design for Gamma Camera Application
2008
We designed new photodiodes sensors including current mirror amplifiers. These photodiodes have been fabricated using a CMOS 0.6 micrometers process from Austria Micro System (AMS). The photodiode areas are respectively 1 mm × 1 mm and 0.4 mm × 0.4 mm with fill factor 98% and total chip area is 2 square millimetres. The sensor pixels show a logarithmic response in illumination and are capable of detecting very low blue light (less than 0.5 lux) . These results allow to use our sensor in new gamma camera solid-state concept.