The thermal degradation of some starch based materials was investigated using XRD method. The samples were obtained by thermal extrusion of mixtures of different proportions of starch, glycerol, and water. Such materials are suitable for the manufacturing of low pollutant packaging. Thermal degradation is one of the simplest ways to destroy such materials and this process is followed by structural modification of the local ordering of samples, water evaporation, crystallization, oxidation, or destruction of the chemical bonds. These modifications need to be studied in order to reduce to the minimum production of pollutant residues by burning process. XRD measurements show modification of the local ordering of the starch molecules depending on the temperature and initial composition of the samples. The molecular ordering perturbation is more pronounced in samples with low content of starch.

Thermal degradation of commercial polystyrene was investigated by XRD and FT-IR methods. The samples were heated 30 minutes at temperatures 140ºC, 200ºC, 250ºC, 300ºC and 350ºC and then brought back to room temperature. XRD investigation denotes structural modification for samples heated above 200ºC. This modification is confirmed by FT-IR measurements. Some vibration bands are affected by thermal degradation at temperatures higher than 200ºC. Both FT-IR and XRD methods reveal modification of microscopic structure of the polystyrene submitted to thermal degradation.

Salinity is one of the most critical abiotic stresses affecting various physiological, biochemical, and molecular functions of plants. This study aimed to assess the effects of different salt concentrations on in vitro blueberry shoots (‘Bluecrop’, ‘Blueray’, ‘Brigitta Blue’, ‘Duke’, ‘Goldtraube’, ‘Hortblue Petite’, and ‘Patriot’ cultivars) and to understand the mechanisms employed by this species under saline conditions. The Woody Plant Medium (WPM) proliferation medium was supplemented with 10, 50, 100, and 150 mM NaCl to induce salt stress. After ten weeks of in vitro culture under salinity stress, various parameters were evaluated, including the number of shoots obtained/explant, shoot length, fresh weight, dry weight, water content, stress tolerance index (STI), and McKinney index (MKI). Additionally, the behaviour of blueberry cultivars under salt stress was analyzed using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR). Compared to the control (culture medium without NaCl), all treatments with NaCl reduced shoot length and the number of shoots obtained/explant in all studied blueberry cultivars. ‘Brigitta Blue’ reported the shortest shoots (0.04 ± 0.02 cm) at a concentration of 150 mM NaCl, followed by ‘Blueray’ with 0.05 ± 0.03 cm. Also, the lowest number of shoots/explant was recorded for both cultivars under 150 mM NaCl, namely 0.12 ± 0.07 shoots/explant (‘Brigitta Blue’) and 0.11 ± 0.04 shoots/explant (‘Blueray’). Salt tolerance, as expressed by ITS and MKI, confirmed that ‘Goldtraube’ exhibited higher salt tolerance, with the highest ITS values and the lowest MKI values. Further validation presented ‘Goldtraube’ as the most unresolved spectra of the Mn (II) hyperfine structure under all salt concentrations, therefore ‘Goldtraube’ was the most tolerant to saline stress.