Application of principal component-artificial neural network models for simultaneous determination of phenolic compounds by a kinetic spectrophotometric method

A multicomponent analysis method based on principal component analysis-artificial neural network models (PC-ANN) is proposed for the determination of phenolic compounds. The method relies on the oxidative coupling of phenols (phenol, 2 chlorophenol, 3-chlorophenol and 4-chlorophenol) to N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine in the presence of hexacyanoferrate(III). The reaction monitored at analytical wavelength 680 nm of the dye formed. Phenols can be determined individually over the concentration range 0.1-7.0 microg ml(-1). Differences in the kinetic behavior of the four species were exploited by using PC-ANN, to resolve mixtures of phenol. After reducing the number of kinetic data using principal component analysis, an artificial neural network consisting of three layers of nodes was trained by applying a back-propagation learning rule. The optimized ANN allows the simultaneous quantitation of four analytes in mixtures with relative standard errors of prediction in the region of 5% for four species. The results show that PC-ANN is an efficient method for prediction of the four analytes.     

An equivalent beam model for the analysis of tunnel-building interaction

The aim of this work is to study the effect of structural characteristics, including stiffness, geometry and weight on tunnel-adjacent structure interaction. Ground materials, tunnel geometry and excavator device are related to a part of metro tunnel of Tehran. To describe the ground behavior due to tunneling, a 3D FE code with an elastoplastic soil model was used. The adjacent building was modeled in two ways: one as an equivalent beam or shell and the other as a real geometry (3D frames). The obtained results from this theoretical work indicate particularly that the stiffness of adjacent structure controls the ground movement distribution induced by tunnel excavation which in agree with other researchers. As it was predicatively, increasing in structure weight leads to create the large displacement components in the ground. The structure width plays also a significant role in displacement distribution of ground. The comparison of the obtained results using two methods of structure modeling shows a very good conformity between them.     

Finite element analysis of thermoelastic contact problem in functionally graded axisymmetric brake disks

An analysis of thermoelastic contact problem of functionally graded (FG) rotating brake disk with heat source due to contact friction is presented. Finite element method (FEM) is used. The material properties of disk are assumed to be represented by power-law distributions in the radial direction. The inner and outer surfaces considered are metal and ceramic, respectively. Pure material is considered for the brake pad. Coulomb contact friction is assumed as the heat source. It is divided into two equal parts between pad and brake disk which leads to thermal stresses. Mechanical response of FG disks are compared and verified with the known results from the literatures. The results show that the maximum value of radial displacement in mounted FG brake disk is not at outer surface. It is found that the all areas between pad and brake disk is in full-contact status when the ratio of pad thickness to brake disk thickness is 0.66. It is observed that the total strain due to thermomechanical load is negative for some parts of the disks, whereas, the thermal strains are always positive. It can be concluded that gradation index of the metal-ceramic has significant effect in the thermomechanical response of FG disks.     

内在的和应力诱导产生的各向异性对颗粒土剪切波速的影响

本文研究了相对密度、平均有效应力、分级特性、固结应力比和样品制备过程中产生的初始组构各向异性对剪切波速度(Vs)的影响.结果表明,在给定的相对密度和有效约束应力下,处于各向异性压缩应力下的固结试样与各向同性或各向异性延伸应力状态下的固结试样相比,其剪切波速度更快.实验发现制备重组样品的沉积技术对剪切波速有重要影响,并对...     

An Omniphobic Spray Coating Created from Hierarchical Structures Prevents the Contamination of High-Touch Surfaces with Pathogens

Engineered surfaces that repel pathogens are of great interest due to their role in mitigating the spread of infectious diseases. A robust, universal, and scalable omniphobic spray coating with excellent repellency against water, oil, and pathogens is presented. The coating is substrate-independent and relies on hierarchically structured polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microparticles, decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Wettability studies reveal the relationship between surface texturing of micro- and/or nano-hierarchical structures and the omniphobicity of the coating. Studies of pathogen transfer with bacteria and viruses reveal that an uncoated contaminated glove transfers pathogens to >50 subsequent surfaces, while a coated glove picks up 10⁴ (over 99.99%) less pathogens upon first contact and transfers zero pathogens after the second touch. The developed coating also provides excellent stability under harsh conditions. The remarkable anti-pathogen properties of this surface combined with its ease of implementation, substantiate its use for the prevention of surface-mediated transmission of pathogens.     

Glucosamine conjugated iron oxide and graphene oxide nanohybrid for smart drug delivery

Smart drug delivery systems have attracted a lot of attention as one of the new treatment methods for cancer. In this study, a smart drug delivery system carrying anticancer drugs was obtained by the intelligent synthesis of glucosamine (GA)-functionalized graphene oxide (GO)-based iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄@GO-GA) using Hummers and chemical co-precipitation processes. Nanohybrids have a high surface area (280.26 m²/g) and superparamagnetic behaviour (Ms = 26.017 emu/g), indicating a significant loading capacity (373.78 mg/mg) and efficiency (96.3%) for pharmaceutical loading. An adsorption study of conventional daunorubicin (DNR) on this carrier showed that the drug release is more prone to occur under acidic conditions (pH = 5.5), at moderately high temperatures (T = 40°C), and in the absence of smart carriers. The toxicity of the smart nanohybrids was examined using the sulphorhodamine B (SRB) assay in Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) cell lines. The rate of death of cells exposed to smart drug-containing systems in comparison to the systems without GA shows that GA reduces the toxicity of Fe₃O₄@GO.     

Fano-Like Resonance from Disorder Correlation in Vacancy-Doped Photonic Crystals

By preparing colloidal crystals with random missing scatterers, crystals are created where disorder is embodied as vacancies in an otherwise perfect lattice. In this special system, there is a critical defect concentration where light propagation undergoes a transition from an all but perfect reflector (for the spectral range defined by the Bragg condition), to a metamaterial exhibiting an enhanced transmission phenomenon. It is shown that this behavior can be phenomenologically described in terms of Fano-like resonances. The results show that the Fano's parameter q experiences a sign change signaling the transition from a perfect crystal exhibiting a reflectance Bragg peak, through a state where background scattering is maximum and Bragg reflectance reaches a minimum to a point where the system reenters a low scattering state recovering ordinary Bragg diffraction. A simple dipolar model considering the correlation between scatterers and vacancies is proposed and the reported evolution of the Fano-like scattering is explained in terms of the emerging covariance between the optical paths and polarizabilities and the effect of field enhancement in photonic crystal (PhC) defects.     

Inclusion complexes of atorvastatin calcium (ATV-Ca) and rosuvastatin calcium (ROV-Ca) drugs with α-CD, β-CD, γ-CD,HP-β-CD,M-β-CD,and maltodextrin along with their characterizations through experimental and computational methods

The aim of this research is a comparison of the efficiency of six commercially available cyclodextrins (CDs) to improve the solubility and oral bioavailability of atorvastatin calcium (ATV-Ca) and rosuvastatin calcium (ROV-Ca) drugs in aqueous media. Inclusion complexes of both drugs with non-toxic α-CD, β-CD, γ-CD, HP-β-CD, M-β-CD, and maltodextrin were prepared in a 1:1 stoichiometry via the kneading method. To reach the best CD, various experimental and computational analyses were performed including phase solubility, dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (¹HNMR), carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³CNMR), and molecular docking calculations. The M-β-CD turned out to be the best substrate for the micro-encapsulation of both drugs. Also, ATV showed a higher tendency than ROV to form inclusion complexes with CDs. Molecular docking studies showed that HP–β–CD and M-β-CD are the most suitable substrates for the formation of inclusion complexes, respectively. Our research showed that the β-CD is not necessarily the most efficient substrate for increasing solubility based on previous reports in the literature; meanwhile, the other employed substrates in this study can show acceptable performances in this regard. According to our results, M-β-CD is the best substrate for the micro-encapsulation of both drugs, which increases their solubility in water.