Reactivity feedback coefficients of a low enriched uranium fuelled material test research reactor at end-of-life

The reactivity feedback coefficients at end-of-life of a material test reactor fuelled with low enriched uranium fuel were calculated. The reactor used for the study was the IAEA’s 10 MW benchmark reactor. Simulations were carried out to calculate the different reactivity feedback coefficients including Doppler feedback coefficient, reactivity coefficient for change of water temperature and reactivity coefficient for change of water density. Nuclear reactor analysis codes including WIMS-D4 and CITATION were employed to carry out these calculations. It was observed that the magnitude of all the reactivity feedback coefficients increased at end of life of the reactor by almost 2–5%.     

Formulation development and optimization of alpha ketoglutarate nanoparticles for cyanide poisoning

The purpose of this research work was to formulate and evaluate alpha ketoglutarate nanoparticles as dry powder inhaler for treatment of cyanide poisoning. Non-polymeric particles were prepared by nano-precipitation technique using various stabilizers. Selection of co-solvent and stabilizer was a key to produce stabilized particles. A combination of lutrol F68 and PVA as a crystal growth inhibitor seems to be best in achieving minimum particle size of 110.2 nm. On the basis of preliminary trials a Box-Behnken statistical design was employed to study the effect of independent variables, drug concentration (X₁), stirring speed (X₂), stirring time (X₃), PVA concentration (X₄), poloxomer concentration (X₅) and volume of co-solvent (X₆) on average particle size. Particle size varied from 110 to 875 nm depending upon the significant terms. Optimized formulation was predicted at drug concentration (50 μg/ml), stirring speed (640 rpm), stirring time (1 min), PVA concentration (1%), poloxomer concentration (1.69%) and volume of co-solvent (30 ml) with 104.6% experimental validity. The nanosized particles were further characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis. The results of particle characterization indicate that there was no physical disparity when compared with the commercial α-KG sample.     

Design and development of bioinspired calcium phosphate nanoparticles of MTX: pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic evaluation

The aim of this investigation is the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by developing methotrexate-loaded calcium phosphate nanoparticles (MTX-CAP-NP) and to evaluate pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior in adjuvant induced arthritis model. The nanoparticles were synthesized by wet precipitation method and optimized by Box-Behnken experimental design. MTX-CAP-NPs were characterized by TEM, FTIR, DSC and XRD studies. The particle size, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency of the optimized nanoparticles were found to be 204.90?±?64?nm, ?11.58?±?4.80?mV, and 88.33?±?3.74%, respectively. TEM, FTIR, DSC and XRD studies revealed that the developed nanoparticles were nearly spherical in shape and the crystalline structure of CAP-NP was not changed after MTX loading. The pharmacokinetic studies revealed that MTX-CAP-NP enhanced bioavailability of MTX by 2.6-fold when compared to marketed formulation (FOLITRAX-10). Under pharmacodynamic evaluation, arthritic assessment, radiography and histopathology studies revealed that CAP has ability to regenerate cartilage and bone therefore, together with MTX, MTX-CAP-NPs have shown significant reduction in disease progression. The overall work demonstrated that the developed nanodelivery system was well tolerated and more effective than the marketed formulation.     

Microstructure Evolution of Extruded Mg-6Gd Alloy Under 175 ℃ and 150 MPa

The tensile creep behavior of extruded Mg-6 Gd alloy,having the tensile yield strength of～ 110 MPa at 175 ℃,has been investigated under 175 ℃ and 150 MPa. In this study, the extruded Mg-6 Gd sample exhibits the total tensile strain of ～10.5% after the creep time of 1100 h,and the fast plastic strain of ～4.6% at the beginning of the creep test. The microstructure result suggests that the dislocation deformation is the main deformation mode during creep, and the grains with orientation close to(0001) II ED disappear after creep. The creep process containing a low creep strain has no effective promotion for the precipitation compared with the aging process without strain. The origination of creep crack is related to the formation of precipitate-free zone during creep. The work offers an important implication to research the microstructure evolution under an applied stress in a weak aging response Mg alloy.     

Effects of clozapine metabolites and chronic clozapine treatment on rat brain GABAA receptors

Computer science can assist the physician or the surgeon in defining an optimal strategy for an intervention, and then in performing it. This implies introducing new sensors, then processing all the data gathered about the patient, and finally operating systems for guidance of the very act of intervention.     

Multi-focus images fusion via residual generative adversarial network

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Recently, most existing learning-based fusion methods are not fully end-to-end, which still predict the decision map and recover the fused image by the refined...     

A Real-Time Data Mining Approach for Interaction Analytics Assessment: IoT Based Student Interaction Framework

Students’ interaction and collaboration with the fellows and teachers using the Internet of Things (IoT) based interoperable infrastructure is a convenient way. Measuring student attention is an essential part of the educational assessment for students’ interaction. As new learning styles develop, new tools and assessment methods are also needed. The focus in this paper is to develop IoT based interaction framework and analysis of the student experience in electronic learning (eLearning) so that the students can take full advantage of the modern interaction technology and their learning can increase to a high level. This setup has a data collection module, which is implemented using Visual C# programming language and computer vision library. The number of faces, number of eyes, and status of eyes are extracted from the video stream, which is taken from a video camera. The extracted information is saved in a dataset for further analysis. The analysis of the dataset produces interesting results for student learning assessments. Modern learning management systems can integrate the developed tool to consider student-learning behaviors when assessing electronic learning strategies. The tools are also developed for the data collection on both student and teacher ends. Correlation of data and hidden meaning are extracted to make the learning experience and teaching performance better and adaptable. IoT based infrastructure provides the facilities to fellow students about location awareness, fellows’ accessibility, social behavior and helping hand.     

PLA/metal oxide biocomposites for antimicrobial packaging application

ABSTRACT

The effects of metal oxide addition in polylactic acid (PLA) film were investigated in this study. PLA/Metal Oxide biocomposites were prepared by solvent casting method. The incorporation of metal oxide resulted in no chemical structure change of neat PLA. PLA/ZnO and PLA/MgO exhibited the widest inhibition while PLA/TiO₂ resulted in the smallest inhibition zone. The addition of metal oxides caused fracture and void on the surface of PLA. The addition of metal oxide into PLA films decreased the tensile strength at the concentration higher than 0.1 per hundred resin (phr). Incorporation of metal oxides accelerated the thermal degradation of PLA and tends to increase the biodegradability of PLA.     

Measuring effect of the blooming of chemical curatives on the rate of cyclic fatigue crack growth in natural rubber filled with a silanized silica nanofiller

Two rubber compounds with different amounts of chemical curatives were prepared by mixing natural rubber with a high loading of a sulfur‐bearing silanized precipitated amorphous white silica nanofiller. The chemical bonding between the filler and rubber was optimized via the tetrasulfane groups of the silane by adding a sulfenamide accelerator and zinc oxide. The rubber compounds were cured and stored at ambient temperature for 65 days before they were tested. One compound showed extensive blooming as a function of storage time. Thin tensile strips of the rubber vulcanizates containing an edge crack were repeatedly stressed at constant strain amplitude and test frequency at ambient temperature and crack length c was measured as a function of the number of cycles n. The cut growth per cycle, dc/dn, was calculated and plotted against the tearing energy, T. The blooming of the chemical curatives increased dc/dn by up to an order of magnitude at a constant T. This was due to the reagglomeration of the chemical curatives in the rubber and also within a thin layer approximately 15 to 20 μm in size beneath the rubber surface. Under repeated stressing, cracks grew through the relatively weak agglomerated areas in the rubber and this caused the rate of crack growth to increase at a constant T. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Predicting the crease recovery performance and tear strength of cotton fabric treated with modified N‐methylol dihydroxyethylene urea and polyethylene softener

This study aimed at developing a model for predicting the crease recovery performance and tear strength of cotton fabric using modified N‐methylol dihydroxyethylene urea, polyethylene softener, catalyst, curing time and curing temperature as the predictor variables. A quarter factorial design was constructed and, based on the experimental results, regression models were built to predict crease recovery angle and tear strength of the treated fabric. All experimental design and statistical analysis steps were implemented, using Minitab statistical software.