Transient interstitial fluid flow in brain tumors: Effect on drug delivery

The presence of high interstitial pressure within the tumor's center [Baxter, L.T., Jain, R.K., 1989. Transport of fluid and macromolecules in tumors I role of interstitial pressure and convection. Microvascular Research 37, 77-104] poses severe problems to chemotherapy via systemic administration. Removal of the tumor core by surgery and subsequent insertion of drug-carrying polymers in the resection cavity may improve the treatment [Wang, C.H., Li, J., 1998. Three dimensional simulation of IgG delivery to tumors. Chemical Engineering Science 53 (20), 3579-3600]. The operation establishes a favorable pressure gradient towards the center of the tumor and thus creates flow reversal immediately after the operation. The simulation results of the transient flow field of interstitial fluid in the surgical cavity of a brain tumor are presented. The simulation is carried out using a computational fluid dynamics software, Fluent, with the model geometry constructed from magnetic resonance images (MRI) with reference to the Gliadel^® wafers application [Sampath, P., Brem, H., 1998. Implantable slow-release chemotherapeutic polymers for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. Cancer control. Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology 5 (2), 130-137]. The coupled mass and momentum equations are solved for the steady-state solutions of the pressure and velocity distributions at a cut section of a tumor. The steady-state solution thus obtained is then perturbed to compute the characteristic time scale of the variation in the interstitial fluid pressure and velocity in a surgical cavity immediately after surgery. Simulation results show that the flow field reaches an equilibrium state in less than 3 h. The surgery produces a transient enhancement of the drug delivery but the surgery alone is not capable of removing permanently the unfavorable pressure gradient against the delivery of drug to tumor. The presence of post-surgery edema increases the interstitial pressure and fluid velocity, thus causing higher relative toxicity in the surrounding normal tissues. Simulations employing complete 3D structure show qualitatively similar results with 2D simulation and hence the use of a cut section of the tumor for simplified model calculations is validated.     

Mechanism of nitrogen-enhanced negative bias temperature instability in pMOSFET

From the detailed analysis of the dependence of threshold voltage shift and positive fixed charge/interface state generation on the stress time/temperature of negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) for various nitrogen concentrations at the oxide/Si interface, the mechanism of nitrogen-enhanced NBTI effect has been studied experimentally. The experimental results can be understood in terms of the reaction energies of the hydrogen trapping reactions at the interface, which are obtained from first-principles calculations. The calculations show that the nitrogen's lone-pair electrons can trap dissociated hydrogen species more easily than oxygen. From the experimental and theoretical studies, one can conclude that the roles of nitrogen in the NBTI are two folds, i.e., it provides more reaction sites, and it can also enhance the NBTI reaction by reducing the reaction energy.     

原油脱水站油水分离效果的影响因素和改善措施

针对近年来大庆油田部分原油脱水站存在的问题,研究了影响原油脱水站油水分离效果的主要因素,提出了改进破乳剂的性能和投加机制,降低游离水脱除器进液中机械杂质含量等提高原油脱水站油水分离效果的改善措施。对采出液处理中应用的破乳剂配方及其加药点设置,沉降罐上部污油回收处理工艺进行了改进。在实际应用中显著改善了大庆油田采出液的油水分离效果,电脱水器运行稳定性显著提高,出矿净化原油水含量低于0.3%的控制指标,沉降罐上部油层厚度可控制在0.3m以下,聚驱沉降罐和水驱沉降罐放水含油量可分别降低到500mg/L和300mg/L的控制指标以下。     

Thermal characteristic of Cu-Cu bonding layer in 3-D integrated circuits stack

Copper (Cu) thermo-compression bonding of wafers can be used to fabricate multi-layer three-dimensional (3-D) integrated circuits (ICs). This work examines the thermal characteristic of the Cu bonding layer and demonstrates experimentally that Cu bonding layer can act as a spreading layer that helps in heat dissipation of bonded 3-D ICs stack more efficiently compared to silicon dioxide bonding layer. The use of Cu bonding layer in a double-layer stack of ICs provides better cooling by as much as 9 °C compared to oxide bonding interface.     

Enhanced Dielectric Constant for Efficient Electromagnetic Shielding Based on Carbon-Nanotube-Added Styrene Acrylic Emulsion Based Composite

An efficient electromagnetic shielding composite based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-filled styrene acrylic emulsion-based polymer has been prepared in a water-based system. The MWCNTs were demonstrated to have an effect on the dielectric constants, which effectively enhance electromagnetic shielding efficiency (SE) of the composites. A low conductivity threshold of 0.23 wt% can be obtained. An EMI SE of ~28 dB was achieved for 20 wt% MWCNTs. The AC conductivity (σ _ac) of the composites, deduced from imaginary permittivity, was used to estimate the SE of the composites in X band (8.2–12.4 GHz), showing a good agreement with the measured results.     

Niobium and tantalum recovery from the primary source and from tin slag,an industrial challenge: A review

Niobium (Nb) and Tantalum (Ta) are used to increase materials' mechanical resistance and produce lighter alloys. Worldwide Nb production reached 78 000 t in 2020. The reduced ore offer justifies the recycling of these metals from tin slag, contributing to the circular economy. Nb₂O₅ and Ta₂O₅ extraction either from the primary source or the tin slag is an industrial challenge. Nb and Ta dissolution processes already implemented are fluoride leaching, sulphuric leaching, alkaline leaching, and alkaline roasting. The fluoride process raises environmental concerns about waste control. The sulphuric method can be managed to have higher Nb and Ta extraction in a less aggressive process, if some changes are implemented, such as increasing the number of extraction steps, decreasing the pulp density, or increasing the temperature; however, the efficiency of this methodology must be tested for tin slag. The alkaline method seems to be more selective to Nb and Ta by reactants and temperature control. Despite those well-established Nb and Ta treatments, they must be adapted to recover Nb and Ta from slag. The slag has low Nb and Ta content, while high Si and Ca concentrations exist in the matrix. This paper brings the main methods used to extract the Nb and Ta from the primary resources and an overview of Nb and Ta recovery from the slag. This investigation comes as a tool to guide the development of new methods to recover Nb and Ta from low-grade sources such as tin slag.     

盐分对广式高盐稀态酱油发酵微生物菌群结构的影响

随着健康中国计划的推进,酱油的减盐成为一种趋势,然而广式高盐稀态酱油发酵过程中盐分对不同发酵阶段的群落结构影响的基础研究仍较薄弱,难以支撑减盐酱油产品的普及。该研究基于Illumina HiSeq高通量基因序列分析及理化指标监测,研究不同盐分条件下不同发酵阶段微生物群落结构及理化指标变化规律。结果表明,低盐组(120 g/L)pH值最低,发酵后快速积累总酸、氨基酸态氮和还原糖;在细菌菌群结构方面,随着盐浓度降低,葡萄球菌属(Staphylococcus)、乳球菌属(Lactococcus)、乳杆菌属(Lactobacillus)均在低盐酱醪中持续增长;在真菌群落构成方面,假丝酵母属(Candida)和米勒氏酵母属(Millerozyma)含量在低盐组酱醪中明显较高。低盐(120 g/L)酱醪发酵中乳酸菌含量及总酸明显比中盐(150 g/L)及高盐(170 g/L)组较高,并在发酵初期快速形成了更加适合酵母菌目生长的酸性环境,促进酵母菌目在发酵中期形成了明显的优势菌群。该研究结果为减盐发酵提供了理论基础,为进一步开发酱油低盐发酵微生物调控技术提供参考依据。     

Effect of methyl methacrylate content on coatings’ properties of palm oleic acid-based macromer

The macromer was synthesized using medium oil length oleic acid, phthalic anhydride, and glycerol. The synthesized macromer and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were copolymerized by free radical polymerization in toluene. The ratio between the macromer and MMA changed, and the effects on different properties of the copolymers, such as glass transition temperature (T _g) and film properties, were studied. The macromer and copolymer structures were characterized by FTIR and ¹H NMR spectroscopies. The coatings prepared with the highest ratio of MMA exhibited better overall physico-chemical properties. Alternatively, Tafel polarization curves showed that the corrosion rate value in NaCl solution decreases significantly when the MMA content is increased. Dynamic mechanical analysis results revealed that the increasing amounts of MMA lead to increasing T _g values of copolymers.     

Decision-directed compensation of modulation-index drift for highbit rate equalized GMSK radio LANs

For an equalized Gaussian minimum shift keying system, the modulation-index drift from 0.5 associated with a simple direct FM implementation may result in a severe degradation on the equalizer performance. A decision-directed compensation for the drift is proposed. Computer simulations show that a large part of the performance loss due to modulation-index drift can be recovered with the proposed method