Effect of Zn,Cu,Cr and Pb Chlorides on the Formation of Tricalcium Aluminate Trisulfate Hydrate

The effect of addition of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cr chlorides as admixtures on the hydration reaction of the system 3CaO·Al2O3-gypsum with molar ratio 1：3 was studied. Different ratios of each salt were used, namely 0.5%, 2% and 4% by weight of the solid mixture. Hydration reaction was carried out at 35℃ for various time intervals from 0.5 h to up to 7 d. Hydration rate of the system 3CaO·Al2O3-CaSO4·2H2O in absence and presence of different salts was studied via the determination of the combined water contents. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the ettringite was the only hydration product formed in the different mixes. The hydration products were investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and thermal gravimetric analysis. The results indicated that the rate of formation of ettringite and its microstructure depend on the admixture and its dosage.     

A long acting ophthalmic gel formulations of atenolol

The main aim of pharmacotherapeutics, is the attainment of an effective drug concentration at the intended site of action for a sufficient period of time to elicit the response. In this study a trial was made to formulate atenolol, which is a beta-adrenergic blocker in a topical ophthalmic gel. Two polymers were used in this study, carboxymethylcellulose and sodium alginate in different concentrations. Atenolol was used in concentrations 0.5, 1, and 1.5% w/v. The in vitro release study was carried out. The results showed that the release rate of atenolol from gel preparations decreased as an inverse function of polymer concentration, while the release rate of the drug increased as the initial concentration increased. The data of drug release from the two polymers in different concentrations was plotted against the square root of time, and the diffusion coefficients (D), were calculated from the slope of the equation.

Intra-ocular pressure (IOP) measurements of the rabbit's eye treated with 1% w/v atenolol solution, and 1% w/v atenolol in two gel formulations with different concentrations of the polymer were determined. The two gel formulations showed that these polymers extended the duration of pressure reducing effect to 8 hr, when compared with atenolol solution. Area above the curve (AAC), maximum response, maximum time of response (t_max), and the duration of action were calculated.

The overall results of this study indicated that the gel formulations of atenolol could be used for the development of a long-acting ophthalmic formulation.     

Organophosphorus chemistry. 16. The Reaction of Furfurylidenemalonitrile with Alkyl Phosphites

Dialkyl phosphites ( 2a – c ) react with furfurylidenemalonitrile ( 1 ) to give the corresponding 1:1 phosphonate adducts 3a – c . On the other hand, trialkyl phosphites ( 6a , b ) affected C -alkylation of the exocyclic ethylenic linkage in compound ( 1 ) to give the respective phosphonate 7a , b .     

Paper coating mixture: Preparation,application, and study of their rheological properties

The finish obtainable on coated paper depends on the materials used as well as the way in which it is calendered. The rheological properties of the coated mixtures revealed the difference between them. When the apparent viscosity, η, was calculated and plotted against the shear rate, γ, on a log–log graph, an approximate linear relations were obtained. On the other hand, a plot is drawn between the shear rate and shear stress, in which a hysteresis loop is obtained connecting the up and down curves. It is clear from these plotting, that the rheological properties for the prepared coating mixtures show time‐dependent behavior, because they are share rate dependence, and they can form sol–gel character. Moreover, the pigments used in the coating mixture were usually chosen because of their different impacts on coating color properties and also on the properties of the coating layer. Therefore, one can use the coating mixture to have higher optical properties and to improve the permeability of the sheets. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 1666–1678, 2000     

Lynch Syndrome Identification in Saudi Cohort of Endometrial Cancer Patients Screened by Universal Approach

Lynch syndrome (LS) is the most common cause of inherited endometrial cancer (EC). The prevalence and molecular characteristic of LS in Middle Eastern women with EC have been underexplored. To evaluate the frequency of LS in a cohort of EC patients from Saudi Arabia, a total of 436 EC cases were screened utilizing immunohistochemistry (IHC), MLH1 promoter methylation analysis and next-generation sequencing technology. A total of 53 of 436 (12.2%) ECs were classified as DNA mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR). MLH1 promoter hypermethylation was detected in 30 ECs (6.9%). Three ECs (0.7%) were found to be LS harboring germline pathogenic variants (PVs)/likely pathogenic variants (LPVs): two in the MSH2 gene and one in the MSH6 gene. Three ECs (0.7%) were Lynch-like syndrome (LLS) carrying double somatic MSH2 PVs/LPVs. Seven cases were found to have variants of uncertain significance in cancer-related genes other than MMR genes. Our results indicate that LS prevalence is low among Saudi EC patients and LLS is as common as LS in this ethnicity. Our findings could help in better understanding of the prevalence and mutational spectrum of this syndrome in Saudi Arabia, which may help in defining best strategies for LS identification, prevention and genetic counseling for EC patients.     

Robust fault estimation and fault-tolerant tracking control for uncertain Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems: Application to single link manipulator

This article concerns the estimation and tracking control problems for Takagi–Sugeno systems with disturbances and norm bounded uncertainties in presence of sensor and actuator faults (SAF). First, we propose a robust fuzzy observer (RFO) design method to estimate both state and SAF for the considered class of the nonlinear systems. Then, this RFO-based fault tolerant tracking control is developed not only to compensate the SAF effects but also to ensure the state convergence to desired trajectories in spite of their presence. To reduce the conservatism of design conditions, observer and controller gains are calculated in a single step by solving a set of linear matrix inequality constraints. H_∞ criterion is used to attenuate disturbance effects and to reduce the tracking error. Finally, simulation results by considering two types of actuator fault and comparative study on a single link flexible joint manipulator are provided to underline the performances of the mentioned process.     

Superhydrophobic Coating Polymer/Silica Nanocomposites: Part I Synthesis and Characterization as Eco-Friendly Coating

Silicon - Special coatings with desirable properties like superhydrophobicity, play an essential role in development of coated substrate surfaces. Solar cells, outdoor items and packaging materials...     

Applying Non-Local Means Filter on Seismic Exploration

The seismic reflection method is one of the most important methods in geophysical exploration. There are three stages in a seismic exploration survey: acquisition, processing, and interpretation. This paper focuses on a pre-processing tool, the Non-Local Means (NLM) filter algorithm, which is a powerful technique that can significantly suppress noise in seismic data. However, the domain of the NLM algorithm is the whole dataset and 3D seismic data being very large, often exceeding one terabyte (TB), it is impossible to store all the data in Random Access Memory (RAM). Furthermore, the NLM filter would require a considerably long runtime. These factors make a straightforward implementation of the NLM algorithm on real geophysical exploration data infeasible. This paper redesigned and implemented the NLM filter algorithm to fit the challenges of seismic exploration. The optimized implementation of the NLM filter is capable of processing production-size seismic data on modern clusters and is 87 times faster than the straightforward implementation of NLM.