Kinetics of emitted mass—A study with three dry powder inhaler devices

The purpose of this study was to understand the kinetics of emptying of micronised salbutamol sulphate (SS) and lactohale 300 (LH300) under varying air flow rates (30–180 L min⁻¹) from three dry powder inhaler devices, Rotahaler^® (RH), Monodose Inhaler^® (MI) and Handihaler^® (HH). Aerosol concentration vs. time profiles, determined through real-time laser diffraction particle sizing, demonstrated that the majority of the powder from RH was emitted within one second while a more prolonged aerosolisation was observed from MI and HH. Peak aerosol concentrations were achieved more rapidly from RH compared to MI for both SS and LH300. Calculated cumulative emitted mass (CCEM) vs. time profiles were obtained from the aerosol concentration vs. time profiles and the emitted mass and the rate of CCEM (k_CCEM), estimated from a modelling approach, increased with increasing air flow rates. The k_CCEMvs. air flow rate profiles of SS and LH300 were significantly different at high air flow rates. The k_CCEM was highest from RH and lowest from MI. Differences in k_CCEM between the devices were related to capsule aperture size while the differences between the materials were due to the powder bed structure. This approach provided an understanding of the rate at which powder mass emptied from dry powder inhaler devices and was proposed to be a powerful development tool for the future powder inhalers.     

Viscous flow and transport with moving free and reactive surfaces

Transport of a chemical species through a viscous fluid with reaction at an interface is modelled by a quasi-static process in which the transient behaviour is dominated by motion of the reactive surface. The reaction is accompanied by a molar volume change which leads to motion of the free surface. A decoupled stream function-vorticity formulation is introduced in conjunction with a moving finite element method. This also permits convenient treatment of the free and reactive surface boundary conditions. The model is applied to the growth of oxide films on silicon surfaces and reveals the effect of surface curvature on film growth.     

Parametric analysis of runway stone lofting mechanisms

The influence of various factors affecting the severity of runway debris lofting mechanisms was investigated by performing numerical simulations and drop-weight impact experiments to assess the likelihood of a stone impact. Geometrical characterisation of stones collected from airfields led to a generic model of a tyre rolling over stones of various shape with different overlaps, orientations, and densities. In numerical simulations of a 0.4 m diameter aircraft tyre rolling at 70 m/s, a 10 mm diameter spherical stone was lofted at a maximum vertical speed of 35 m/s. For equivalent mass prolate spheroid stones, the loft speeds were 11–34% lower depending on the stone orientation. Objects with flat surfaces exhibited different lofting mechanisms and lower angular velocities. The conditions most conducive to stone lofting were very stiff, small diameter, sharp cornered tyres rolling on ground with a high friction coefficient over spherical stones such that just under half the stone diameter was covered by the tyre. The stone loft speed was approximately proportional to the square root of the tyre tread stiffness. Finally, tyre tread grooves could throw stones upwards at the tyre-ground separation speed, which was 17 m/s for the conditions mentioned earlier.     

Relative information content and top-down proteomics by mass spectrometry: utility of ion/ion proton-transfer reactions in electrospray-based approaches

Computer simulations of electrospray ionization (ESI) and collision-induced dissociation (CID) experiments were employed to examine the informing power associated with "top-down" proteomics implemented with some commonly used mass analyzers, i.e., the quadrupole ion trap (QIT), the Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICRMS), and the time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. Using a ratio of the separated (or resolved) peaks to the total number of predicted peaks as a measure of informing power, the ESI-MS simulation of a mixture of proteins showed that the FT-ICRMS exhibited the highest informing power among the three instruments being studied, with the QIT giving the lowest informing power, which was expected from the analysis of the "component capacity" of the three approaches. Also as expected on the basis of resolving elements per component, a dramatic increase in the informing power of the approach was obtained when ion/ion proton-transfer reactions were used to reduce the number of peaks and to minimize overlap between ions of different mass and charge but similar mass-to-charge ratio. With the assumptions made in this study, the informing power of the TOF + ion/ion approach rivaled or even exceeded that of the FT-ICRMS approach, despite significantly lower mass resolution. This result stemmed from both a reduction in the number of peaks and their dispersion over a much wider range of mass-to-charge ratios. Similar results were obtained from the CID simulation, where the informing power of different approaches was evaluated on the basis of the ratio of the number of ions for which a mass could be determined unambiguously to the total number of ions in the spectra.     

Coherent Optical Recognition and Counting of Reticulated Red Blood Cells

A coherent optical data-processing system for identifying and counting blood cells has been developed. Optical Weiner-Kolmogorov (minimum mean-square error) linear filtering is employed to estimate the density per unit area of a given cell type present in a sample blood smear. The Weiner filter is designed to recognize the characteristics of an ensemble of cells of a type rather than specific individual cells. In this way the system is made insensitive to minor variations in shape, size, or orientation of the cells. A Poisson shot-noise model for blood cells as a spatial random process is employed to calculate the far-field scattering from the cells. Results of experiments in which the percentage of reticulated (immature) red cells present in a smear has been determined are presented. The identification and counting accuracies compare favorably with those obtained by laboratory technicians with a microscope. The potential time saving of instantaneous estimation for the entire smear is significant.     

High-Resolution Elemental Bioimaging of Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, and Zn Employing LA-ICP-MS and Hydrogen Reaction Gas

Imaging of trace metal distribution in tissue sections by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is typically performed using spatial resolutions of 30 μm(2) and above. Higher resolution imaging is desirable for many biological applications in order to approach the dimensions of a single cell. The limiting factor for increasing resolution is sensitivity, where signal-to-noise ratios are poor due to inherent background spectral interferences and reduced sample volume with decreasing laser beam diameter. Several prominent spectral interferences are present for a number of biologically relevant isotopes, including the (40)Ar(16)O(+) spectral interference on (56)Fe(+). We examined if H(2) as a reaction gas could improve the analytical performance of imaging experiments for a range of masses with spectral interferences. At low (<1 mL min(-1)) H(2) flow rates, greater spectral interference due to H(+) adducts was observed for (55)Mn, (57)Fe, and (59)Co. At higher flow rates of up to 3 mL H(2) per minute, the spectral interferences were reduced leading to improvement in limits of analysis for masses with O- and N-based polyatomic interferences. Enhanced sensitivity with the reaction cell allowed construction of high resolution (6 μm(2)) imaging of (56)Fe in the mouse brain that approached the dimensions of single cells.     

Ultraviolet absorption of cerium(III) and cerium(IV) in some simple glasses

The optical absorption spectra of cerium (III) and cerium (IV) in Na₂O-B₂O₃, Na₂O-SiO₂, Na₂O-P₂O₅ glasses, and in H₂O-H₂SO₄ and H₂O-H₃PO₄ solutions have been studied. Individual molar extinction coefficients of cerium (III) and cerium (IV) at different wavelengths (350 to 200 nm) have been estimated. In all the glasses and solutions, cerium (IV) produces a very strong and broad charge transfer band around 250 nm; the intensity, half-width, and position of this band change appreciably with glass composition. Cerium (III) in glass and in aqueous solution produces a number of absorption bands in the ultraviolet region corresponding to the f → d transitions. The cerium (III) bands are sharp and well resolved in Na₂O-P₂O₅ and in low-alkali borate glasses; the sharpness of resolution deteriorates in Na₂O-SiO₂, and in high-alkali borate glasses. The intensity of cerium (III) absorption also changes with glass composition. In all the glasses the molar extinction coefficient of cerium (IV) is 5 to 10 times stronger than that of cerium (III).     

合理选择高速ADC 实现欠采样

欠采样或违反奈奎斯特（Nyquist）准则是ADC应用上经常使用的一种技术。射频（RF）通信和诸如示波器等高性能测试设备就是其中的一此实例。在这个“灰色”地带中经常出现一些困惑，如是否有必要服从Nyquist准则，以获取一个信号的内容。对于Nyquist和Shannon定理的检验将证明；