Hybrid materials based on metal oxides and poly(organophosphazenes)

In this paper the sol-gel preparation of hybrid materials made of metal oxide and polytorganophosphazenel components is described. The main problem focused on during this research was to avoid phase separation in order to get homogeneous materials. This problem was pursued looking at the formation of genuine chemical bonds between the exploited polyphosphazenes and the inorganic composite networks. Investigations on the thermal, mechanical, and electroconductive properties of the synthesized, phosphazene-containing composite materials showed that these matrices presented improved mechanical and thermal features with respect to those of the original phosphazene macromolecule, while the ionic conductivities of the prepared molecular hybrids doped with lithium or silver trillate are of the same order of magnitude as those measured for the neat, original phosphazene substrate.Presented at the Ist Italian Workshop on Cyclo- and Polytphosphazenel Materials. February 15–16, 1996. at the CNR Research Area in Padova, Italy.     

Phospholipid fatty acid composition in type I and type II rat muscle

The fatty acid composition of the membrane phospholipids phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine in insulin-sensitive Type I (soleus) and insulin-resistant Type II (EDL) muscle is not known. In the present studies, soleus and EDL muscles were removed from 250–300 g Sprague-Dawley rats, and the fatty acid composition of total and individual phospholipid (PL) species was quantitated. As expected, triglyceride content was increased twofold in soleus muscle. No quantitative differences in the individual PL species or cholesterol content were found between the two muscles. However, a striking difference in PL fatty acid composition was observed in the PC fraction. An increase in 16∶0 with decreases in 18∶0, 18∶1, 22∶5n-3, and 22∶6n-3 (P<0.001 for each) was observed in the PC fraction of EDL compared to that from soleus, consistent with reduced elongation of PC fatty acids. Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation with the carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 inhibitor, etomoxir, did not alter the fatty acid pattern in either muscle. We conclude that an alteration in PL fatty acid composition consistent with reduced elongation of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids is observed in Type II muscle. The restriction of these alterations to the PC fraction has important implications. Deceased (June 28, 1996).     

K- and Cs-FeV/Al2O3soot combustion catalysts for diesel exhaust treatment

Alkali-doped FeV oxide catalysts supported on -alumina were prepared and their catalytic activity in the combustion of diesel soot is reported. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, TPR and SEM–EDX analysis. The influence of the nature of the alkali metal (K and Cs), the temperature of treatment of the catalysts and the stability to sulfur poisoning have been investigated.

Catalysts doped with Cs were the most active and stable also after several combustion cycles and in the presence of sulfur in the stream. The activity measurements and microstructural results suggest that the combustion of soot is favored on catalysts where amorphous phases and/or mixed Fe---V---O phases, ensuring an intimate contact between iron and vanadium, are present. A reaction mechanism involving the participation of the redox couple Fe(II)–Fe(III) in the activation of the vanadium combustion sites, is proposed.     

Development of a virtual reality laboratory stressor

Virtual Reality - This research report describes the development of a virtual reality (VR) laboratory stressor to study the effects of exposure to stressful events. The aim of the research was to...     

An analysis of the internal oxidation of binary M-Nb alloys under low oxygen pressures at 600–800°C

The corrosion of M–Nb alloys based on iron, cobalt, and nickel and containing 15 and 30 wt% Nb has been studied at 600–800°C under low oxygen pressures (10^–24 atm at 600°C and 10^–20 atm at 700–800°C). Except for the Co–Nb and Ni–Nb alloys corroded at 800°C, which formed external scales of niobium oxides, corrosion under low O₂ pressures produced an internal oxidation of niobium. This attack was much faster than expected on the basis of the classical theory. Furthermore, the distribution of the internal oxide in the alloys containing two metal phases was very close to that of the Nb-rich phase in the original alloys. These kinetic, microstructural, and thermodynamic aspects are examined by taking into account the effects of the limited solubility of niobium in the various base metals and of the two-phase nature of the alloys.     

The oxidation of two Fe−Nb alloys under low oxygen pressures at 600–800°C

The oxidation of two Fe–Nb alloys containing 15 and 30 wt.% Nb has been studied at 600–800°C under low oxygen pressures, similar to those prevailing in environments of the coal-gasification type. The reaction produced only an internal oxidation of niobium to form two niobium oxides (NbO₂ and Nb₂O₅) and in some cases a double Fe–Nb oxide. The kinetics of this reaction were very slow at 600°C but rather fast at 700 and 800°C. A peculiar feature of the internal oxidation of these alloys is that the distribution of the internal oxides follows closely that of the Nb-rich phase in the original two-phase alloys. This behavior, as well as the lack of formation of external scales of niobium oxides, is mainly a result of the limited solubility of niobium in iron and of the consequent presence of two metal phases in the alloys.     

Measuring the structural similarity among XML documents and DTDs

Measuring the structural similarity between an XML document and a DTD has many relevant applications that range from document classification and approximate structural queries on XML documents to selective dissemination of XML documents and document protection. The problem is harder than measuring structural similarity among documents, because a DTD can be considered as a generator of documents. Thus, the problem is to evaluate the similarity between a document and a set of documents. An effective structural similarity measure should face different requirements that range from considering the presence and absence of required elements, as well as the structure and level of the missing and extra elements to vocabulary discrepancies due to the use of synonymous or syntactically similar tags. In the paper, starting from these requirements, we provide a definition of the measure and present an algorithm for matching a document against a DTD to obtain their structural similarity. Finally, experimental results to assess the effectiveness of the approach are presented.     

A new predictor–corrector approach for the numerical integration of coupled electromechanical equations

In this paper, a new approach for the numerical solution of coupled electromechanical problems is presented. The structure of the considered problem consists of the low‐frequency integral formulation of the Maxwell equations coupled with Newton–Euler rigid‐body dynamic equations. Two different integration schemes based on the predictor–corrector approach are presented and discussed. In the first method, the electrical equation is integrated with an implicit single‐step time marching algorithm, while the mechanical dynamics is studied by a predictor–corrector scheme. The predictor uses the forward Euler method, while the corrector is based on the trapezoidal rule. The second method is based on the use of two interleaved predictor–corrector schemes: one for the electrical equations and the other for the mechanical ones. Both the presented methods have been validated by comparison with experimental data (when available) and with results obtained by other numerical formulations; in problems characterized by low speeds, both schemes produce accurate results, with similar computation times. When high speeds are involved, the first scheme needs shorter time steps (i.e., longer computation times) in order to achieve the same accuracy of the second one. A brief discussion on extending the algorithm for simulating deformable bodies is also presented. An example of application to a two‐degree‐of‐freedom levitating device based on permanent magnets is finally reported. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Engineered microparticles based on drug–polymer coprecipitates for ocular-controlled delivery of Ciprofloxacin: influence of technological parameters

Abstract

Ciprofloxacin is a drug active against a broad spectrum of aerobic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, for the therapy of ocular infections. It requires frequent administrations owing to rapid ocular clearance and it is a good candidate for ocular controlled release formulations. The preparation of such drug release systems is still a challenge. Ionic interactions between ciprofloxacin and the polyelectrolytes chondroitin sulfate or lambda carrageenan result in coprecipitates that can act as microparticulate controlled release systems from which the drug is released after being displaced by the medium’s ions. In some formulations, Carbopol was added to improve the mucoadhesive properties. The aim of this research was the study of the influence of the technological parameters of the preparation method of coprecipitates on their particle size, with the goal of achieving particles engineered with a size suitable for the ocular administration. Technological parameters taken into account were: concentration of drug and polymer solutions utilized for the preparation of interaction products, possible use of surfactants (kind and concentration), temperature of the solutions and stirring during the process of preparation of the coprecipitates. Preliminary stability study tests were carried out to further characterize the leader formulation. Particle size in suspensions for ocular drug delivery is a critical parameter influencing the quality of the formulation. The results obtained from this study show that chondroitin sulfate coprecipitates present the best characteristics in terms of particle size suitable for ocular administration. A further improvement of the particle size characteristics has been obtained with the addition of surfactants.     

Interaction of Langmuir–Blodgett and spin-coated films of μ-carbido-bridged ironphthalocyanine with NO2: Optical and conductimetric behaviour

The present study investigates the interaction of NO₂ gas and μ-carbido-bridged iron phthalocyanine (PcFeCFePc) films obtained by Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) and spin-coating (SC) techniques. The phthalocyanine bridged dimer under study belongs to the polynuclear unsubstituted phthalocyanines class and presents poor solubility: in contrast the corresponding N-base bis-adducts are soluble enough in organic solvents to be deposited by Langmuir–Blodgett and spin-coating techniques. The reaction with NO₂ is monitored by visible spectra variation that shows identical behaviour for both kinds of films, indicating that the chemical reaction between the gas and the films is independent of the deposition method. The electrical conductivity change as a function of time with NO₂ is instead dissimilar: for spin-coated films it shows a behaviour already observed for sandwich-type phthalocyanine whereas for LB films it resembles that of monomeric phthalocyanine. Such a response implies that the charges (holes) generated in the oxidation/reduction process are carried differently through the material, and we attempt to explain this behaviour taking into account the two different structural and morphological features induced by the two techniques.