混合信号FPGA用于临床应用：血液透析机

临床医疗设备主要是供应临床和化验室使用。许多临床医疗设备,例如病患监护仪、血液分析仪和血液透析机,都是基于微控制器/微处理器并采用相同的构建模块的机电装置。     

A Rapid Method for the Determination of Gold in Rocks, Ores and Other Geological Materials by F-AAS and GF-AAS After Separation and Preconcentration by DIBK Extraction for Prospecting Studies

A solvent extraction method using diisobutyle ketone (DIBK) is designed for the accurate and precise estimation of very low concentrations of gold in rocks, ores and other geological samples. 30?g sample was digested using aqua regia after roasting and gold content was extracted into DIBK phase consisting of Aliquat? 336 and estimated by flame atomic absorption spectrometer (F-AAS). Samples having gold concentration <0.1???g/g were estimated using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer (GF-AAS). Results of DIBK extraction were compared to those obtained by other well established methods, such as classical Pb-fire assay and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)-AAS methods. Comparison was also made with results obtained by the direct determination of gold by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) technique. The analytical results for international gold reference materials measured by the proposed method were in close agreement with those obtained by other well established methods and recommended values. Detection limits (20?ng/g by F-AAS, 0.1?ng/g by GF-AAS and 0.01?ng/g by ICP-MS) of gold (3????× total procedure blank) is very low and could be further improved by using high pure acids and other reagents.     

A solvothermal-reduction method for the production of horn shaped multi-wall carbon nanotubes

Horn shaped multi-wall carbon nanotubes (HMWCNTs) with uniform diameter of ∼100 nm, an average wall thickness of 10 nm and length of about 1 μm were prepared using a solvothermal-reduction method employing carbon tetrachloride as a carbon source and metallic copper as reductant. X-ray diffraction pattern indicated the presence of an amorphous carbon phase. Functional groups attached to the surface of the HMWCNTs were identified by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. The nitrogen sorption isotherm was of Type IIb with the hysteresis typically found for aggregated powders which possess non-rigid slit-shaped pores. The formation of HMWCNTs, as observed by scanning electron microscopy, proceeded through an intermediate fish-bone like morphology.     

Granulation and Drying of Modified Clay Incorporated Pesticide Formulation

The extensive use of chemicals in agriculture, in particular herbicides, is a serious environmental concern. There is an urgent need to develop smart herbicide formulations that combine both optimum bioactivity and minimum dosages. In the current article, an attempt has been made to design the formulation based on one of the most widely used herbicide, Atrazine (AT). This potent herbicide along with “China clay” as the carrier and suitable clay modifiers can be thought as one of the potential way of formulation keeping in view the desired dosage and bioavailability of the same. The China clay was subjected to modification using a surfactant blend of alpha olefinic sulphonate (AOS) and alkyl polyglucosides (APG). The intercalation of the surfactant into the clay was confirmed by XRD and FTIR and the morphology was studied by SEM. The process of granule formulation and the drying was carried out using rapid mix granulator and the fluidized-bed dryer, respectively, at the desired conditions of temperature and relative humidity. These granules were then compared on the basis of key parameters such as dissolution rate, dispersion stability, and other physical properties such as bulk density, angle of repose, and particle size distribution. The study reveals the desired effect of clay modifications on the granules in terms of above-mentioned quality parameters.     

Capacity of nano-reactors of AOT micro-emulsions to form and sustain ultra small semiconductor quantum dots

Microemulsions (MEs) are increasingly being used as nano-reactors for the formation and synthesis of nanoparticles or quantum dots (QDs). In this paper, we study the capacity of aqueous nanoreactors of AOT microemulsions for the formation of ultrasmall semiconductor QDs by fixing w = ([H2O]/[AOT]) and varying the concentration of CdS up to 100 mM. The CdS QDs in the MEs are evaluated using UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD, TEM, and light scattering. Particles are found to be controlled in 8.7 A-11.8 A. The UV-vis spectra are analysed using an accurate tight-binding (TB) approach and effective mass approximation (EMA). The TB method, being much more accurate than the EMA, gives results in good agreement with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD reveals that the particles are mostly zinc-blend at low concentrations (> or =20 mM) but a mixture of zinc-blend and wurtzite at higher concentrations (100 mM). High concentrations of CdS are useful to improve the yield while best-utilizing nanoreactors and to give a tight control over size and polydispersity. MEs containing CdS are found to be stable over a month when kept in the dark.     

Modelling of energy usage for the refining of ethanol from corn

A mathematical model is developed and presented for calculating the energy usage and costs for the dry milling corn-ethanol production process. The model is formulated into a spreadsheet to facilitate the study of the process. While considering the whole process, the model focuses on the primary energy-consuming cooking and distillation processes. This model is a feed-backwards model, which means process input requirements are calculated based on user-entered values for total annual plant production and various process parameters. Based on these input requirements, the total energy usage and the cost and amount of fuel used during the process are calculated. The accuracy of the model was verified through comparisons between modelling results and published data. This model can be used as a source for investigating other potential energy sources, such as the incorporation of solar energy and wind energy, for use in the ethanol production process.     

Assessing manufacturing strategy definitions utilising text-mining

The variations in Manufacturing Strategy (MS) definitions create confusion and lead to lack of shared understanding between academic researchers and practitioners on its scope. The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical analysis of the paradox in the difference between academic and industry definitions of MS. Natural Language Processing (NLP) based text mining is used to extract primary elements from the various academic, and industry definitions of MS. Co-word and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) provide empirical support for the grouping into nine primary elements. We posit from the terms evolution analysis that there is a stasis currently faced in academic literature towards MS definition while the industry with its emphasis on ‘context’ has been dynamic. We believe that the proposed approach and results of the present empirical analysis can contribute to overcoming the current challenges to MS design and deployment – imprecise definition leading to its inadequate operationalisation.     

Oral Bioavailability Enhancement of Acyclovir by Self-Microemulsifying Drug Delivery Systems (SMEDDS)

Acyclovir is a potent anti-viral agent useful in the treatment of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infections. Acyclovir exerts its antiviral activity by competitive inhibition of viral DNA through selective binding of acyclovir to HSV-thymidine kinase. The main purpose of this work was to develop self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) for oral bioavailability enhancement of acyclovir. Solubility of acyclovir was determined in various vehicles. SMEDDS is mixture of oils, surfactants, and co-surfactants, which are emulsified in aqueous media under conditions of gentle agitation and digestive motility that would be encountered in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. Pseudoternary phase diagrams were constructed to identify the efficient self-emulsifying region dilution study was also performed for optimization of formulation. SMEDDS was evaluated for its percentage transmittance, Assay of SMEDDS, phase separation study, droplet size analysis, zeta potential, electrophoretic mobility, and viscosity. The developed SMEDDS formulation contained acyclovir (50 mg), Tween 60 (60%), glycerol (30%) and sunflower oil (9%) was compared with the pure drug solution by oral administrating to male albino rats. The absorption of acyclovir from SMEDDS form resulted about 3.5 fold increase in bioavailability compared with the pure drug solution. Our studies illustrated the potential use of SMEDDS for the delivery of hydrophobic compounds such as acyclovir by oral route.     

Content-based adaptive compression of educational videos using phase correlation techniques

A serious bottleneck towards multimedia e-learning is the non-availability of required bandwidth to view the lecture videos at good resolution because of large size of lecture videos. Content-based compression of video data can greatly enhance the bandwidth utilization over scarce resource networks. In this paper, an educational video compression technique is presented that dynamically allocates the space according to the content importance of each video segment in the educational videos. We present a phase-correlation-based motion estimation and compensation algorithm that assists in the compression of important moving objects in an efficient manner. Temporal coherence is exploited in a two-phase manner. First, the frames with high similarity are categorized and encoded efficiently. Second, the compression ratio is adapted according to the frame content. Shots that are of high importance are stored at a higher bit rate as compared to the frames of relatively low importance. The importance and priority of the frames is computed automatically by our algorithm. Results over several hours of educational videos and comparison with the state-of-the-art compression algorithms illustrate the high compression performance of our technique.     

A survey on antibiotic usage in dairy herds in Pennsylvania

A survey was conducted (July 2001 to June 2002) on antibiotic usage of 113 dairy herds from 13 counties in Pennsylvania. Fifty percent of dairy farms surveyed maintained antibiotic treatment records. Only 21% of dairy producers had written plans for treating sick animals. Thirty-two percent of dairy producers sought veterinarian advice before administering antibiotics and on most farms (93%), antibiotics were administered by the owner/manager or designated herdsman. Twenty-four percent of the dairy producers said they always completed the course of antibiotic treatment. Any extra-label use of antibiotics was administered only on the guidelines of a veterinarian on majority of the farms. Comprehensive records from 33 dairy farms indicated that antibiotic usage was largest for calves with enteritis (36%) followed by pneumonia in calves (25%) and foot rot in cattle (16%). Twenty-four antibiotics including beta-lactams, spectinomycin, florfenicol, and tetra-cyclines were used on these farms. Beta-lactam antibiotics were used mostly for dry cow therapy, clinical mastitis, and on some farms for pneumonia and metritis. On 18% of the dairy herds surveyed, ceftiofur was used in an extra-label manner to treat mastitis in lactating cattle. On 70% of farms, calves were fed medicated milk replacers containing oxytetracycline and neomycin. The results of this study suggest that antibiotics are used extensively on dairy herds for both therapeutic and prophylactic purposes. Beta-lactams and tetracyclines were the most widely used antibiotics. There is considerable variation in the management practices associated with antibiotic use on dairy farms. It is anticipated that the findings of this survey will permit developing new strategies for prudent use of antibiotics on dairy herds.