A method for micro-molding a polymeric membrane and including pouring a predetermined volume of curable polymer unto a micro-fabricated mold having a post array with pillars, and overlaying the polymer with a support substrate. A spacer, such as a rubber spacer, is placed in contact with the support substrate and a force is applied to an exposed side of the spacer to compress the support substrate and the polymer together. While applying the force, the polymer is cured on the mold for a predetermined time period and at a predetermined temperature to form a polymeric membrane having a pore array with a plurality of pores corresponding to the plurality of pillars of the post array. The polymeric membrane is removed from the support substrate.

A method of forming synthetic dry adhesives is provided that includes using a combined wedge indenting and orthogonal machining process to form tapered mold cavities in a mold, filling the tapered mold cavities with an elastomeric adhesive, curing the elastomeric adhesive in the tapered mold cavities, and removing the elastomeric adhesive from the mold, where a plurality of tapered lamellar ridges extend from a surface of the elastomeric adhesive.

A composition containing a newly identified bacteriocin produced by a Lactobacillus plantarum strain, isolated from natural corn mash used in commercial fermentation process for production of ethanol. The bacteriocin composition is effective in broad range killing against the vast majority of the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolates in ethanol fermentation mash, which include multiple species of Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Weissella, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, Enterococcus, and Streptococcus as well as killing activity against non-LAB isolates, such as strains of Staphylococcus, Enterobacter, Bacillus, and Clostridium. The bacteriocin is also combined with broad range bacteriophage to provide synergistic effectiveness again unwanted bacteria in industrial biofuel fermentation process and in human and animal bacterial infections.

A composite material system having an aggregate bound by an elastomer encapsulant. The composite material (CM) is designed to defeat impinging projectiles by converting the kinetic energy (KE) in the projectile to damage in the aggregate and the elastomer and increasing the thermal energy in the CM and the projectile via frictional heating. In one embodiment, the CM comprises certain kinds of rocks encapsulated (or bound) in a hyper-elastic polymer, such as polyurethane (PU). The CM may be shaped into convenient shapes from modular assembly to create a ballistic resistant surface.

A microneedle includes a base and a tip distal from the base, the microneedle being formed with an anisotropic porous composition including a plurality of channels extending in a substantially uniform direction through the microneedle from a base surface towards an outer surface defined by the tip, and the plurality of channels being adapted to enable flow of a fluid therein.

The invention provides a method for producing embedded contact lenses involving steps of use of a set of 3 mold halves in two-curing steps. One of the 3 mold halves have been used twice, the first time for molding an insert and the second time for molding the embedded hydrogel contact lens. The twice-used mold half has been treated with a corona plasma or a vacuum UV in a central circular area of its molding surface having a diameter equal to or smaller than the diameter of the insert to ensure that the molded insert consistently adhered to the twice-used mold half. The method also comprises a step of forming a reactive polysiloxane coating that is covalently attached onto the back or front surface of a molded insert adhered on the twice-used mold half before molding the embedded contact lens in the 2.sup.nd curing step.

The invention provides a method for producing embedded diffractive contact lenses involving use of a mold set in two-curing steps. The mold set consists of three mold halves, one of which is used twice, the first time for molding a diffractive insert and the second time for an embedded contact lens with the molded diffractive insert embedded therein. The twice-used mold half has been treated with a corona plasma or a vacuum UV in a central circular area having a diameter equal to or smaller than the diameter of the insert to ensure that the molded insert consistently adheres to the twice-used mold half, even though the other mating insert mold half for molding the diffractive insert has a great tendency to bind strongly the molded insert due to the diffractive structure on its molding surface.

The invention provides a method for producing embedded contact lenses involving a mold set in a two-curing-step process and a fast-curing SiHy lens formulation. The mold set consists of three mold halves, one of which is used twice, the first time for molding an insert from an insert-forming composition and the second time for an embedded contact lens with the molded insert embedded therein from the fast curing SiHy lens formulation that comprises a N,N-dialkylacrylamide, a hydrophilic (meth)acrylamido monomer, and a polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker and being free of any siloxane-containing vinylic monomer.

The invention provides a method for producing delamination-resistant embedded contact lenses involving use of a mold set in two-curing steps and a special lens-forming composition for forming a bulk hydrogel material for embedding a crosslinked polymeric insert. The mold set consists of three mold halves, one of which is used twice, the first time for molding an insert from an insert-forming composition and the second time for an embedded contact lens with the molded insert embedded therein from the special lens-forming composition that a vinylic crosslinking agent and or organic solvent both of which independent of each other can swell an insert by a moderate swelling degree. The resultant embedded hydrogel contact lenses can be free of deformation and delamination.

A cast-molded article in a composite material comprising a cured polymeric binder incorporating embedded particles of filler, characterized in that the binder incorporates randomly distributed fibers of polyamide, wherein the fibers have a length of 5-20 mm and a diameter of 0.05-0.2 mm and the fibers comprise 0.02-0.5 wt % based on the overall mass of the cast-molded article.