Within groups of small-for-dates (SFD) and large-for-dates (LFD) babies there is great diversity in their postnatal growth patterns. We analysed our data to find out how soon, and for which dimensions, could predictions of size at one year be reasonably made. Among LFD babies a strong correlation (r=0.644) was found between head circumference at birth and 12 months. Comparable values for weight and length were present by 3 months. In the SFD group, correlations of the same order were achieved for all three dimensions at the age of 4 months.

Functional nanoparticles, such as liposomes and polymeric micelles, are attractive drug delivery systems for solubilization, stabilization, sustained release, prolonged tissue retention, and tissue targeting of various encapsulated drugs. For their clinical application in therapy for pulmonary diseases, the development of dry powder inhalation (DPI) formulations is considered practical due to such advantages as: (1) it is noninvasive and can be directly delivered into the lungs; (2) there are few biocomponents in the lungs that interact with nanoparticles; and (3) it shows high storage stability in the solid state against aggregation or precipitation of nanoparticles in water. However, in order to produce effective nanoparticle-loaded dry powders for inhalation, it is essential to pursue an innovative and comprehensive formulation strategy in relation to composition and powderization which can achieve (1) the particle design of dry powders with physical properties suitable for pulmonary delivery through inhalation, and (2) the effective reconstitution of nanoparticles that will maintain their original physical properties and functions after dissolution of the powders. Spray-freeze drying (SFD) is a relatively new powderization technique combining atomization and lyophilization, which can easily produce highly porous dry powders from an aqueous sample solution. Previously, we advanced the optimization of components and process conditions for the production of SFD powders suitable to DPI application. This review describes our recent results in the development of novel DPI formulations effectively loaded with various nanoparticles (electrostatic nanocomplexes for gene therapy, liposomes, and self-assembled lipid nanoparticles), based on SFD.

40 samples of stem surfaces of the Weller endoprosthesis of hip joint removed because of aseptic loosening were tested. The patients between the ages of 61 and 87 were examined and the exploitation time of endoprosthesis ranged from 1 to 20 years. The material analysed was as follows: I group - exploitation 1-3 years (5 surfaces), II group - exploitation 5-8 years (11 surfaces), III group - exploitation 10-14 years (14 surfaces), and IV group - exploitation 16-20 years (10 surfaces). Additionally group 0 covered 4 unexploited endoprostheses. We analysed the 2-4 mm2 surfaces of the Weller endoprosthesis stems, with the scan velocity of 500 mum/s. A decrease in stem amplitude parameters means some increase in stem microdisplacements in relation to cement. During the first three years, the decrease in the roughness of endoprosthesis surface was larger compared with that in further exploitation period. In the case of unexploited surfaces of stems, the values of fractal dimension are lower (2.34). During exploitation time the Sfd parameter decreases negligibly (2.28-2.24).

The Membrane BioReactor (MBR) is a well-established filtration-based technology for wastewater treatment. Despite the high quality of the effluent produced, one of the main drawbacks of the MBR is membrane fouling. In this context, a possible evolution towards systems having potentially lower installation and operating costs is the Self Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR). Key of this technology is the self-formation of a biological filtering layer on a support of inert material. In this work, a lab-scale aerobic SFD MBR equipped with a nylon mesh was operated at approximately 95Lm-2h-1. Two mesh pore sizes (20 and 50μm) and three air scouring flow rates (150, 250, and 500mLairmin-1) were tested at steady state. Under all the tested conditions, the SFD MBR effectively treated real municipal wastewater. The quality of the produced effluent increased for lower mesh size and lower air scouring intensity.

BACKGROUND

According to dual process theories, not only do explicit but also implicit cognitive processes play a major role in the development and maintenance of somatoform disorders(SFDs). Recent evidence [1] suggests that patients with SFD shave a stronger implicit illness-related self-concept, which is related to the experience of medically unexplained symptoms.

OBJECTIVE

The current study was designed to investigate a possible causal link between biased implicit associations and symptoms in SFD patients by experimentally modifying the implicit illness-related self-concept.

METHODS

Twenty-nine patients with SFDs (according to the DSM-IV) initially completed an Implicit Association Test(IAT) for assessing the implicit illness-related self-concept.Two weeks later, they underwent an evaluative conditioning task to modify the implicit self-concept.

RESULTS

After this procedure, a change toward a healthier implicit self-concept was apparent in the follow-up IAT. A reduction in symptom severity and changes in health- and body-related cognitions were observed 13 days after the training in the follow-up questionnaires.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that a biased implicit self-concept may be causally relevant for symptom experiences inpatients with SFDs. Existing cognitive behavioral treatments for SFDs might benefit from targeting implicit cognitive processes more directly.

Squeeze film dampers (SFDs) are widely used to dissipate mechanical energy caused by rotor vibrations as well as to improve overall stability of the rotor system. Especially turbomachine rotors, supported on little damped rolling element bearings (REBs), are primarily sensitive to unbalance excitation and thus high amplitude vibrations. To ensure safe operation, potential failure modes, such as an oil starved damper state, need to be well examined prior to the introduction in the ultimate industrial application. Hence, the aim of this research project is to evaluate the performance of the rotor support for a complete oil starvation of the SFD. An academic rotor dynamic test bench has been developed and briefly presented. Experimental testing has been conducted for two static radial load cases resembling the full load and idle condition of a certain turbomachine. Evidently, the measurement results exposed severe vibration problems. Even a split first whirl mode arises due to a pronounced anisotropic bearing stiffness. Moreover, for the least radially loaded bearing, highly nonlinear behavior emerged at elevated unbalance excitation. Consequently, the rollers start to rattle which will have a negative effect on the overall bearing lifetime. To explain the nature of the nonlinear behavior, advanced quasi-static bearing simulations are exploited. A number of possible solutions are proposed in order to help mitigate the vibration issues.

Selection of suitable signal peptides is an important factor for efficient secretion of heterologous proteins. We defined structural fusion degree (SFD) as the compatibility degree of target proteins and signal peptides by a bioinformatics approach. We mathematically analyzed the interaction of fused signal peptides and adjacent residues of proteins, and proposed a mathematical model of extended signal region and the protein. SFD Features was extracted from this model to characterize the secretability of heterologous proteins. Simulation tests showed that SFD features can effectively discriminate high secretory proteins from poor ones in the host Bacillus subtilis. Results from this research will be useful in signal peptide selection and have a better guiding significance for the optimization of heterologous protein secretion.

The term single file (SF) dynamics refers to the motion of an assembly of particles through a channel with cross-sections comparable to the particles' diameter. Single file diffusion (SFD) is then the diffusion of a tagged particle in a single file, i.e., under the condition that particle passing is not allowed. SFD accounts for a large variety of processes in nature, including diffusion of colloids in synthetic and natural channels, biological motors along molecular chains, electrons in proteins and liquid helium, ions through membranes, just to mention a few examples. Albeit introduced in 1965s, over the last decade the classical notion of SF dynamics has been generalised to account for a more realistic modelling of the particle properties, file geometry, particle-particle and channel-particle interactions, which paves the way to remarkable applications of the SF model, for instance, in the technology of bio-integrated nanodevices. We provide here a comprehensive review of the recent advances in the theory of SF dynamics with the purpose of spurring further experimental work.

In 25 cases of pregnancy complicated by SLE, we examined the relationships between fetal growth and histopathological findings in the placental villi. The following results were obtained. 1. As for histological findings in the placenta, in most cases clear findings of circulatory disorders were obtained. 2. In the light microscopic visual field at x63, no difference was observed among the group in the cross section occupying rate of the villi and cross section area of the terminal villi, but in one case in the IUFD group, the villi were underdeveloped and the cross section occupying rate of the villi was low. 3. The villous/vascular cross section area ratio per single terminal villus became smaller in the following order: full term AFD group, full term SFD group, premature AFD group, and premature SFD group, and a significant difference was observed between the normal controls and the premature SFD group. 4. During immunoglobulin staining by the PAP method, IgG deposits were observed in the villous syncytiotrophoblasts and their periphery, in vascular endothelial cells in the villi, and in the villous interstitium, etc. in both the SLE cases and the normal controls, but deposits of IgM in the same regions were observed only in the premature SFD group of pregnancies complicated by SLE.

We use atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the diffusion of water molecules confined inside narrow (6,6) carbon nanorings. The water molecules form two oppositely polarized chains. It is shown that the effective interaction between these two chains is repulsive in nature. The computed mean-squared displacement (MSD) clearly shows a scaling with time Deltatheta(2)(t) approximately t(1/2), which is consistent with single-file diffusion (SFD). The time up to which the water molecules undergo SFD is shown to be the lifetime of the water molecules inside these chains. Simulations of "uncharged" water molecules inside the nanoring show the formation of several water chains and yield SFD. These observations conclusively prove that the diffusion is Fickian when there is a single chain of water and SFD is observed only when two or more chains are present.

We present an approach to solving the radiative transport equation (RTE) for layered media in the spatial frequency domain (SFD) using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. This is done by obtaining a complex photon weight from analysis of the Fourier transform of the RTE. We also develop a modified shortcut method that enables a single MC simulation to efficiently provide RTE solutions in the SFD for any number of spatial frequencies. We provide comparisons between the modified shortcut method and conventional discrete transform methods for SFD reflectance. Further results for oblique illumination illustrate the potential diagnostic utility of the SFD phase-shifts for analysis of layered media.

<AbstractText>It is unclear whether research participation effects contribute to an improvement in asthma symptoms during clinical trials in the absence of any active intervention. We examined the impact of additional follow-up surveys on caregiver-reported symptoms among control subjects in a series of randomized controlled asthma trials.</AbstractText><AbstractText>We analyzed baseline and follow-up data for children (3-10 yrs.) with poorly controlled persistent asthma that participated as control subjects in 1 of 3 randomized trials of urban school-based asthma care (study duration: 7-10 months). We compared mean symptom-free days (<em>SFD</em>) per 2 weeks between baseline and final follow-up; performed bivariate regressions to explore associations between demographics and changes in <em>SFD</em>; and performed multivariate random-effects generalized least square regression to examine the relationship between number of follow-ups beyond baseline (range: 1-10) and changes in <em>SFD</em> over time.</AbstractText><AbstractText>516 children were enrolled as controls across the 3 trials (mean age 7.5 yrs., 61% Black, 28% Hispanic, 81% Medicaid). Mean <em>SFDs</em> increased significantly from baseline to final follow-up (7.8 to 11.4 days, P<0.001). In adjusted analyses, significant improvements in <em>SFD</em> were observed with all follow-up contacts in comparison with baseline. Symptom improvement showed a dose-response relationship with the number of follow-up assessments completed (1, 2-3, 4-5, and 6-10 assessments).</AbstractText><AbstractText>Children with uncontrolled asthma who participate as controls in clinical trials experience a significant increase in <em>SFD</em> with additional follow-up assessments. This improvement should be considered when designing/analyzing asthma interventions, and may help guide clinical outreach efforts for underserved children with persistent asthma.</AbstractText>

Two bench-scale Self-Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactors (SFD MBR), equipped with 50 µm nylon meshes were set up and operated under aerobic conditions in order to treat canning and winery wastewaters. The results showed different behaviors of the two systems, confirming the strong dependence of SFD MBR performance on the type of biomass and, in turn, on the type of stream being treated. Both plants achieved good results in terms of effluent quality, demonstrating the suitability of the proposed technology. Median values of effluent turbidity were 2.7 and 15.4 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) in the reactors fed with canning wastewater and winery wastewater, respectively. The removal of organic matter (as COD, Chemical Oxygen Demand) was consistently above 90%, although the retention of suspended solids was variable and somewhat dependent on operating conditions and feed composition. The activated sludge characteristics were observed to affect filtration performance and in particular the capillary suction time (CST) was a possible indicator of efficiency, with a threshold value of 11 seconds above which filtration performance decreased. This parameter is proposed as an early warning tool for changes in the filtration performance of an SFD MBR, both for effluent quality and cleaning requirements.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of longitudinally reporting age at first drink (AFD), and to test AFD and setting of first drink (SFD) as predictors of collegiate problem drinking.

METHODS

338 first-year college students were interviewed multiple times during their first academic year, from May 2011 through August 2012.

METHODS

AFD, SFD, and problem drinking were measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) during the first year of college. Bivariate analysis and parsimonious multivariate linear regression model were conducted.

RESULTS

62% of respondents were inconsistent in reporting AFD over time. Social SFD was the strongest independent predictor for higher AUDIT scores (b = 4.74, 95% confidence interval; 1.91, 7.57; p = .002).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest caution should be used in relying upon using AFD as a sole predictor of problem drinking. SFD may be a complementary measure to identify students at high risk of collegiate problem drinking.

The effect of two different methods of forced diuresis was investigated in two groups consisting of twelve patients. These groups were statistically selected from 86 cases with severe poisoning caused by hypnotic drugs, exhibiting a comparable metabolic and neurological symptomatology. Group 1 underwent the usual diuretic therapy group 2 was treated with standardised forced duiresis (SFD). In group 2 a significant higher hourly urinary output, a lower incidence of acidosis and more stability of the electrolyte balance were found. Therefore SFD was judged to be a useful help in elimination of hypnotic drugs.

Objectives: Physical inactivity (PIn) and a fatty diet (FD) are closely linked to development of metabolic syndrome (MetS), overloading the endocrine pancreas seeking energy homeostasis. However, the relative contribution of FD and PIn to the pancreatic overload is unknown. The aim of this study was to verify the isolated and conjugated influence of FD and PIn in the islets of Langer hans (islets) structure and function related to overload in Wistar rats.

Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into four groups (n = 10/group): active groups, fed with fat (AFD) or standard (ASD) diet; and physically inactive groups, fed with fat (SFD) or standard (SSD) diet for 21 wk. Glucose tolerance (GT) and insulin sensitivity (IS) were assessed before sacrifice. Retroperitoneal adipose tissue and pancreas were weighted (PW), and pancreas samples processed for histologic analyses.

Results: Only the FD-fed animals presented MS. Compared with standard diet, FD impaired GT and IS, decreased PW, and enlarged islets dimensions, with islets cellular death, inflammatory response, and enhanced collagen content, which were attenuated in AFD. Independent of the diet, PIn groups presented higher amounts of islets connective tissue, but without influence on inflammatory reaction and cellular death. The GT impairment was higher in the FD-fed groups, whereas the decreased IS was more pronounced in the PIn groups.

Conclusion: FD induced MS with detrimental effects on pancreas overload, inducing islets morphologic and functional maladaptation, which were attenuated in active animals. Physical activity was not able to prevent FD-induced MS. FD showed a negative influence on GT, whereas PIn mainly affected IS.

Keywords: Glucose tolerance; Histology; Inflammation; Insulin sensitivity; Metabolic syndrome; Pancreas overload.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the sphenofrontal distance (SFD) in a large series of aneuploid fetuses in the second and third trimesters and compare findings with those of a euploid population.

METHODS

The database at our unit was searched to identify pregnancies with a diagnosis of trisomy 21, 18 or 13, triploidy or Turner syndrome after 15 weeks' gestation. Stored ultrasound images obtained between 19 and 22 weeks were reviewed. For the normal population, two euploid fetuses matched for gestational age were selected randomly for each aneuploid case. The SFD was measured from the anterior edge of the sphenoid bone to the lowest posterior edge of the frontal bone using on-screen calipers. The SFD measurement was parallel to the long axis of the maxilla. If the sphenoid bone did not extend superiorly enough for direct measurement of the SFD, a tangential line was drawn at the anterior wall of the sphenoid bone and extended cranially. In these cases, the distance between the extended line and the frontal bone was measured. One operator measured the SFD twice and was blinded to the results and karyotype.

RESULTS

The study population consisted of 591 pregnancies: 394 euploid fetuses, 122 fetuses with trisomy 21, 45 with trisomy 18, 16 with trisomy 13, eight with Turner syndrome and six with triploidy. For both euploid and aneuploid groups, mean gestational age at examination was 22.8 (range: euploid, 15.0-40.7; aneuploid, 15.0-40.3) weeks. For euploid fetuses, mean SFD was 1.27 cm and measurements ranged from 0.53 cm to 2.56 cm. SFD was significantly dependent on gestational age (SFD = 0.138 + 0.005 × gestational age, P < 0.001, r = 0.802). Mean SFD was significantly smaller in each aneuploid group compared with the euploid population (trisomies 21, 18 and 13: all P < 0.001; triploidy: P = 0.026; Turner syndrome: P = 0.047). For 32 (26.2%), nine (20.0%) and six (37.5%) fetuses with trisomy 21, 18 and 13, respectively, SFD was < 5th percentile. Only one (12.5%) fetus with Turner syndrome and none with triploidy had SFD < 5th percentile.

CONCLUSIONS

In aneuploid fetuses, the SFD is smaller than in their euploid counterparts. However, for a false-positive rate of 5%, the detection rate of trisomy 21 is only 26%. Therefore, using the method we have proposed, it is unlikely that this marker will play a major role in second- and third-trimester screening for aneuploidy. Copyright © 2016 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

OBJECTIVE

To determine some factors associated with infant mortality.

METHODS

Descriptive study.

METHODS

Galle district in Sri Lanka.

METHODS

350 infant deaths of singleton births.

METHODS

Association between variables.

RESULTS

Neonatal:post-neonatal death ratio was 3.2:1, and 62.3% (218) were early neonatal deaths. First day deaths comprised 28.6% (100); 67.8% (237) died at the Teaching Hospital. A high incidence (65.7%) of low birthweight (LBW) was noted. Mean birthweights of neonates and post-neonates were 1925 +/- 729 and 2520 +/- 620 gram respectively, and the difference between means was statistically significant (p < 0.001). LBW and related disorders were the major cause of death in 44% (154) of the total sample, and in 55.8% (149) of neonates. Infections were the commonest cause (55.8%) of death in post-neonates. Pediatric clinical assessment to differentiate small-for-dates (SFD) was not recorded in 90.3%. Statistically significant associations were found between the period of death (neonatal and post-neonatal) and the following variables: period of gestation (p < 0.001); birthweight (p < 0.001) and cause of death (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

There was a high incidence of neonatal deaths and a high proportion of early neonatal deaths. About one-third of deaths occurred on the first day of life. Incidence of LBW was high. The major cause of death was LBW and related disorders in the total sample and in neonates. Assessment of SFD was not carried out in the vast majority of infants.

Growth and development of 172 infants with low birth weight (82 AFD, 90 SFD) were controlled within the first year of life. Head growth of AFD infants kept within normal limits during the whole time. The head circumference of the SFD infants was smaller within the first two months, from the third month onwards there was no signficant difference between AFD and SFD infants. The difference in body weight between AFD and SFD was significant up to the fifth month. Psychomotor development was within normal limits in 165 of the 172 infants, seven children developed signs of cerebral palsy. The incidence of spastic diplegia in infants with a birth weight below 1500 gm was 2.4%. The favourable outcome seems to be at least partially due to the early high caloric feeding.

Single-file diffusion (SFD) in finite open nanopores is characterized by nonzero spatially varying tracer diffusion coefficients within a generalized hydrodynamic description. This contrasts with infinite SFD systems where tracer diffusivity vanishes. In standard tracer counterpermeation (TCP) analysis, two reservoirs, each containing a different species, are connected to opposite ends of a finite pore. We implement an extended TCP analysis to allow the two reservoirs to contain slightly different mixtures of the two species. Then, determination of diffusion fluxes through the pore allows extraction of diffusion coefficients for near-constant partial concentrations of the two species. This analysis is applied for a lattice-gas model describing two-component SFD through a finite linear pore represented by a one-dimensional array of cells. Two types of particles, A and B, can hop only to adjacent empty cells with generally different rates, h_{A} and h_{B}. Particles are noninteracting other than exclusion of multiple cell occupancy. Results reveal generalized hydrodynamic tracer diffusion coefficients which adopt small values inversely proportional to pore length in the pore center, but which are strongly enhanced near pore openings.

We present a spatial frequency domain (SFD) diffuse optical tomography for simultaneous acquisition of multi-wavelength tomographic images of turbid media. We propose a highly sensitive single-pixel SFD imaging system for simultaneously collecting multi-wavelength spatially modulated reflectance images, instead of using the expensive electron-multiplying charge-coupled device camera that requires switching between the multi-wavelength collections. The single-pixel SFD imaging system using three low-power light sources (455, 532 and 660 nm) that were intensity-modulated by square waves with three different frequencies for frequency encoding, and all the light sources were focused onto one digital micromirror device (DMD) for generating wide-field sinusoidal illumination patterns. Reflected light from the surface of the turbid media was modulated by the other DMD with many sampling patterns before being spatially integrated. Spatially integrated light signals were frequency decoded with a novel highly sensitive lock-in photon counting detection, then multi-wavelength spatially modulated reflectance images were recovered with the single-pixel imaging (SPI) method. We incorporated the two-dimensional discrete cosine transform (DCT) into the SPI method to reduce the number of sampling patterns, and, thereby, the proposed DCT-SPI scheme achieved a fast acquisition of SFD reflectance images that is desired for a dynamic SFD imaging application. Direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) amplitudes at all the locations on the media surface were extracted from the recovered images. Multi-wavelength tomographic images were reconstructed with an inversion algorithm based on the first-order Rytov approximation of the diffusion equation, using both the extracted DC and AC amplitudes. We performed experiments using a series of tissue simulating phantoms to verify the performances of the proposed approach and compared the experimental results with those using a conventional camera-based SFD imaging system. The results demonstrate that our DCT-SPI based SFD-DOT approach is well suited for simultaneous reconstruction of multi-wavelength tomographic images to pave the way for many SFD imaging applications.

Infants born for small for date (SFD) fetuses have an increased risk of perinatal mortality and morbidity. Different methods have been applied to identify these fetuses including history, clinical examination and ultrasonography. Ultrasonography has a better predictive value and majority of such fetuses can be identified. Measurements of the fetal biparietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL) charts are widely used in dating pregnancies and follow-up of pregnant women in assessing fetal growth, identification of small for date (SFD) and growth retarded fetuses. This prospective study was performed to construct fetal chart for BPD, AC and FL at different gestational weeks from the Bangladeshi pregnant women. Seven hundred and ten women had ultrasonic measurements of fetal BPD, AC and FL between 12 to 42 weeks of pregnancy. Centiles, mean and the standard deviation (SD) were calculated for BPD, AC and FL. Mean maternal age was 24.73 +/- 4.48 (Mean +/- SD) and 310 (43.7%) were primigravidae. There was a gradual increase of the BPD (outer-inner), AC and FL measurements of 5th, 10th, 50th and 90th Centiles upto 38th weeks of gestation with a gradual increase of SD showing increasing dispersion of data. In cases of BPD and AC, After 38th weeks of gestation the Centiles showed a slower growth rate towards 42 weeks of pregnancy. This slower growth rate from 38 weeks of pregnancy was not noted in case of femur length. Fetal charts with the raw data for each measurement with superimposed fitted lines derived from polynomial (quadratic) regression were constructed. Quadratic model showed good fit to the data during construction of fetal charts. The new fetal measurement charts of BPD, AC and FL are unique for the Bangladeshi population and have not been found similar in the later weeks of pregnancy to those published for other Caucasian populations. These charts will help the clinicians and sonographers in dating pregnancy, identifying SFD and growth retarded fetuses.

We report that a simple, low-cost type of spray-freeze drying (SFD) significantly improves the dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in thermoplastic polymers. Conventional SFD requires costly specialized equipment and large amounts of material, both of which are impediments to laboratory research on nanomaterial composites. Our method uses more readily available equipment and can be adapted to use milligrams to grams of material. A household spray bottle containing an aqueous nanomaterial dispersion is used to spray the dispersion into a dish of liquid nitrogen. The resulting material is then lyophilized in a standard laboratory freeze dryer. The usefulness of this simplified method was explored by comparing the properties of polypropylene (PP) composites produced by this method to those produced by a previously reported rotary evaporation method in which the dispersion is vacuum-dried onto the polymer. The role of the initial dispersion state was explored by using pristine SWNTs as well as SWNTs stabilized by two common SWNT stabilizers: polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and sodium dodecyl sulfate. Based on rheological, thermal, and morphological characterization, the porous friable structures produced by SFD resulted in better SWNT dispersion compared to composites produced by a previously reported rotary evaporation method. However, the PP/PVP-SWNT nanocomposites produced by both methods contained large aggregates. To verify that this aggregation behavior was the result of thermodynamic incompatibility between PP and PVP, ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) nanocomposites containing PVP-SWNT were also produced using the SFD method. The results of this research show how a low-cost alternative to SFD along with careful consideration of compatibility is a promising approach to produce nanocomposites.