Rheological and drug‐release behaviour of a scleroglucan gel matrix at different drug loadings

The aim of this study was to investigate the drug‐loading effects on release and mechanical properties of a scleroglucan gel, with the intention of considering them in delivery systems formulations. The rheological and kinetic properties of a 2 % w/w scleroglucan gel matrix loaded with 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.2 and 0.4 % w/w of theophylline (Th, used as a model drug) were investigated. Rheological measurements were performed in a controlled‐stress rotational‐shear rheometer under isothermal conditions. For theophylline release from the gel a flat Franz cell was used and the kinetic parameters were derived applying a semi‐empirical power law. The influence of scleroglucan molar weight on kinetic and rheological behaviour was also studied. Results suggest two possible effects of drug loading on the gel network: in the 0.04–0.06 % w/w Th range a plasticizing effect and in the 0.2–0.4 % w/w Th range a rigidization effect. In the first range mentioned, the changes in the gel structural properties tested by means of rheological measurements are coincident with changes in drug‐release kinetics. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Dynamic crack propagation with cohesive elements: a methodology to address mesh dependency

In this paper, two brittle fracture problems are numerically simulated: the failure of a ceramic ring under centrifugal loading and crack branching in a PMMA strip. A three‐dimensional finite element package in which cohesive elements are dynamically inserted has been developed. The cohesive elements' strength is chosen to follow a modified weakest link Weibull distribution. The probability of introducing a weak cohesive element is set to increase with the cohesive element size. This reflects the physically based effect according to which larger elements are more likely to contain defects. The calculations illustrate how the area dependence of the Weibull model can be used to effectively address mesh dependency. On the other hand, regular Weibull distributions have failed to reduce mesh dependency for the examples shown in this paper. The ceramic ring calculations revealed that two distinct phenomena appear depending on the magnitude of the Weibull modulus. For low Weibull modulus, the fragmentation of the ring is dominated by heterogeneities. Whereas many cracks were generated, few of them could propagate to the outer surface. Monte Carlo simulations revealed that for highly heterogeneous rings, the number of small fragments was large and that few large fragments were generated. For high Weibull modulus, signifying that the ring is close to being homogeneous, the fragmentation process was very different. Monte Carlo simulations highlighted that a larger number of large fragments are generated due to crack branching. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Specific interactions in blends containing Chitosan and functionalized polymers. Molecular dynamics simulations

Chitosan (CS)/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and Chitosan/poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (P2HEM) blends have been studied through molecular dynamic simulations. In a previous work it was found miscibility between these polymers and it was attributed to hydrogen bonding formation. However, the experimental information obtained was not enough to know which of the interacting groups of Chitosan, i.e. -CH₂OH or -NH₂, are responsible of the interaction. Therefore, we have performed molecular dynamics simulation runs of 1 ns in order to calculate radial distribution functions (RDF) for the groups tentatively involved in the interaction. The results are correlated with our previous experimental data. This way, we have obtained a more precise conclusive information about the interactions involved as function of the blends composition. For low compositions of PVA and P2HEM the interaction is predominantly with the hydroxymethyl groups of CS while as the composition of PVA and P2HEM increases, the interaction with the amine groups increases.     

太湖流域主要湖泊的水域动态变化

利用GIS和遥感技术对不同时期的地形图和遥感影像数据进行处理,获取3个时期(1971,1988,2002年)的太湖流域主要湖泊的水域面积。结合多种文献资料,对太湖流域主要湖泊的水域面积变化进行了研究,并分析了引起水域面积变化的主要因素。结果表明,1971~2002年期间太湖流域主要湖泊的水域面积减少了188.87 km2;湖泊水域面积减少的主要原因是由于人类活动的影响。在实地调查研究的基础上,对合理利用与保护湖泊水资源的对策进行了探讨。     

动态汽车衡测量结果的不确定度评定

本文主要介绍了在动态汽车衡的试验过程中不确定度来源,并以动态试验为例重点介绍了计算各分量的标准不确定度、合成标准不确定度以及扩展不确定度的方法.     

Dynamic modes of Ti combustion in a coflow of N<Subscript>2</Subscript>-Ar mixture

Combustion of bulk density Ti powder (containing 20 wt % TiN as a diluent) in a coflow of N₂-Ar mixture was investigated upon variation in the nitrogen content of the gaseous mixture. The obtained data are believed to open up new horizons for fabrication of layered and composite ceramics by infiltration-mediated combustion.      

抽水蓄能机组PSS参数设计与现场试验

围绕广东电网的暂态稳定问题进行了广东电网主要运行方式下的动稳定分析计算,得出抽水蓄能机组的机电振荡频率及其阻尼情况。根据广东电网和南方电网的振荡频率落在0．3～2．0 Hz的低频段上的特点,并结合蓄能电厂机组的参数与特性,经BPA潮流、稳定计算程序和小扰动动态稳定分析程序计算分析比较,对蓄能机组的PSS参数进行了初步设计。通过现场试验对抽水蓄能机组的PSS参数进行优化整定,检验PSS的性能以及在工况调整和转换过程中的适应能力。     

A multi-agent architecture for dynamic scheduling of steel hot rolling

Steel production is a complex process and finding coherent and effective schedules for the wide variety of production steps, in a dynamic environment, is a challenging task. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent architecture for integrated dynamic scheduling of the hot strip mill (HSM) and the continuous caster. The scheduling systems of these processes have very different objectives and constraints, and operate in an environment where there is a substantial quantity of real-time information concerning production failures and customer requests. Each process is assigned to an agent which independently, seeks an optimal dynamic schedule at a local level taking into account local objectives, real-time information and information received from other agents. Each agent can react to real-time events in order to fix any problems that occur. We focus here, particularly, on the HSM agent which uses a tabu search heuristic to create good predictive–reactive schedules quickly. The other agents simulate the production of the coil orders and the real-time events, which occur during the scheduling process. When real-time events occur on the HSM, the HSM agent might decide whether to repair the current schedule or reschedule from scratch. To address this problem, a range of schedule repair and complete rescheduling strategies are investigated and their performance is assessed with respect to measures of utility, stability and robustness, using an experimental simulation framework.     

动态多目标决策问题的灰色分析方法

将用于固定时间截面下静态多目标决策的灰色关联理论推广到动态情形，引入局部理想最优效果和整体理想最优效果的概念，提出一种新型的动态多目标决策问题的灰色关联模型，并通过算例说明该方法的合理可行性。