Rheological and drug‐release behaviour of a scleroglucan gel matrix at different drug loadings

The aim of this study was to investigate the drug‐loading effects on release and mechanical properties of a scleroglucan gel, with the intention of considering them in delivery systems formulations. The rheological and kinetic properties of a 2 % w/w scleroglucan gel matrix loaded with 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.2 and 0.4 % w/w of theophylline (Th, used as a model drug) were investigated. Rheological measurements were performed in a controlled‐stress rotational‐shear rheometer under isothermal conditions. For theophylline release from the gel a flat Franz cell was used and the kinetic parameters were derived applying a semi‐empirical power law. The influence of scleroglucan molar weight on kinetic and rheological behaviour was also studied. Results suggest two possible effects of drug loading on the gel network: in the 0.04–0.06 % w/w Th range a plasticizing effect and in the 0.2–0.4 % w/w Th range a rigidization effect. In the first range mentioned, the changes in the gel structural properties tested by means of rheological measurements are coincident with changes in drug‐release kinetics. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Alphorn: a remote procedure call environment for fault-tolerant,heterogeneous, distributed systems

Alphorn, a software environment for programming distributed computer systems, is described. Programs running on different computers, possibly of different types and running different operating systems, communicate in a client-server relationship by means of remote procedure calls. This efficient construct structures programs neatly. The paper covers distributed process control, Alphorn's object-based programming style, remote procedure calls, the service interface language, configuration, runtime and debugging, and fault tolerance support     

A shell for cooperating expert systems

Abstract: This paper describes a shell for cooperating expert systems that has been developed at the University of Porto. The main goal of this shell is two-fold: to generate a community of cooperative knowledge-based systems and to develop several special reasoning techniques which can be used under a distributed and cooperative paradigm. UPShell is able to convert a set of generated intelligent systems (ISs) into a community of cooperative ISs. In this first version it is already possible to generate different intelligent systems which are able to run 'simultaneously' as separate Unix processes and, using a message-passing mechanism, to communicate among themselves. They can be set to pursue an overall goal in a cooperative way. Moreover, several tasks can be given to each IS to be solved simultaneously, and the IS can switch from task to task according to dynamic priorities reflecting the urgency attached to the specific sub-tasks that emerge. The shell described here may also be used to test, within a distributed environment, some time-bounded reasoning techniques that are presently being developed. The paper has three main parts: a general overview of the UPShell (Section 1); a tutorial explaining, by means of examples, how to use the package (Section 2); and, finally, some considerations on the reasoning techniques used and future improvements (Sections 3–5).     

Chemical changes in polyvinyl fluoride during the process of fibre-spinning

Conclusions The change in some properties of polyvinyl fluoride during the process of fibre spinning has been investigated.It has been found that during the process of converting PVF powder into fibre, the degree of polymer crystallinity plus its resistance to thermal and thermooxidative degradation is increased; depending on the spinning regime, the densities and physicomechanical properties of PVF fibres are different.Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 4, pp. 34–35, July–August, 1984.     

Retention of Escherichia coli in municipal sewage by means of planted soil filters in two-stage pilot plant systems.

Different types of constructed wetlands in a pilot-plant system were fed with identical municipal waste water to compare the sanitisation process in two-stage systems. With combinations of a vertical and a horizontal flow filter an E. coli reduction of 5 log10 with an E. coli influent concentration of 10(7) MPN/100 ml was achieved. Using different filter materials in each stage the total performance of the two-stage system was independent from the sequence of these materials. However, using coarser filter material in the first stage makes the filter less prone to clogging and is thus the preferential option with regard to operational reliability.     

Comfort limits for asymmetric thermal radiation

Groups of 32 and 16 subjects of both sexes were exposed in an environmental chamber to radiant asymmetry caused by a cool wall, a warm wall, and a cool ceiling. Each subject was tested individually while seated and clothed at 0.6 clo. During each 3.5-hour experiment the subject was exposed to six radiant temperature asymmetries. He was asked whether and where he experienced any local cool or warm sensation, and whether it was felt to be uncomfortable. During the entire experiment he was kept thermally neutral by changing the air temperature according to his wishes.For cool walls, warm walls, and cool ceilings curves have been established showing the percentage of dissatisfied subjects as a function of the radiant asymmetry. Radiant asymmetry at a warm wall caused less discomfort than a cool wall. A cool ceiling caused less discomfort than a warm ceiling. Accepting that 5% of the subjects may feel uncomfortable. a radiant temperature asymmetry of 10°C is allowable at a cool wall, 23°C at a warm wall, and 14°C under a cool ceiling. A previous study showed that 4°C is allowable under a warm ceiling. Radiant asymmetry had no significant impact on the operative temperatures preferred by the subjects. No significant differences were observed between the responses of men and women exposed to radiant asymmetry.     

Near-resonance oscillations of a nonsymmetric nonlinear system with a crack

The Malkin method, which was developed to construct a single unique resonance solution of nonlinear equations, is generalized for the case of the derivation of all stationary solutions in the near-resonance zone, and also for transient oscillations.Kiev Polytechnic Institute. Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 10, pp. 108–112, October, 1989.