Investigation of structural properties of clinoptilolite rich zeolites in simulated digestion conditions and their cytotoxicity against Caco-2 cells in vitro

The use of the clinoptilolite rich natural zeolites in biomedical applications such as in anticancer therapy, drug or drug support systems and as nutritive supplement is highly dependent on their behavior in digestive conditions. Aim of this study is to investigate structural stability of clinoptilolite rich natural zeolites in simulated digestion conditions and their interactions with digestive media and with Caco-2 (human colon adenocarcinoma) cells. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analyses of the clinoptilolite rich zeolite samples showed that zeolites preserved their structural stabilities during in vitro digestion. Slight interactions were detected in UV measurements of the digestive liquid media and FTIR spectra of the intestinal digested media powders. SEM results implied that zeolites might have a role in the aggregation of the digestive enzymes. Cytotoxicity test using colon cancer cells showed that clinoptilolite rich natural zeolites have cytotoxic effect against Caco-2 cells and cytotoxicity did not significantly change with respect to simulated digestion process.     

A survey on computation offloading and service placement in fog computing-based IoT

The Journal of Supercomputing - In recent years, fog computing has emerged as a computing paradigm to support the computationally intensive and latency-critical applications for resource limited...     

Gold nanoparticle modified conducting polymer of 4-(2,5-di(thiophen-2-yl)-1H-pyrrole-1-l) benzenamine for potential use as a biosensing material

Gold nanoparticle (AuNP) modified conducting polymer of 4-(2,5-di(thiophen-2-yl)-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)benzenamine (SNS-NH₂) was used as the biosensing platform for glucose analysis. Electrochemical measurements were carried out by following the consumed oxygen due to the enzymatic reaction of glucose oxidase (GOx) at −0.7 V vs Ag/AgCl. Optimisation of pH, enzyme loading, stability experiments were carried out. Effect of NP was investigated by monitoring the signal responses at different AuNP sizes and amounts. A linear relation of y = 1.597x + 0.264 (R² = 0.993) was found for glucose concentrations between 0.002 and 5.0 mM. The analytical characteristics of the system were also evaluated for glucose determination in flow injection analysis (FIA) mode. Finally, the system was checked for glucose detection on real samples.     

使用本土设计政策创造城市品牌

世界上大多数国家已经开始注意到设计对全球市场中国家竞争力和产业竞争力的重要性,因此政府开发了很多设计政策.2003年出版的Designum报告强调不同国家的设计政策非常相似,然而根据国家的需求,一些不同之处就会被认识到(Hyt(o)nen和Heikkinen,2003年).有时设计政策可能是全国性的,比如在斯堪的那维亚国家,或有时可能更多的是区域性的,比如在澳大利亚或意大利.在很多国家的一些城市里有特殊工艺及设计,不幸的是现在这些工艺及设计正在消失.因此可以在设计政策的环境下实施一些方法以支持这些城市.如果设计规划得到本土化的应用,这些城市将会因它们的品牌而闻名,同时也会影响到国家在全球市场中的设计知名度.在本文中,将会讨论以城市的工艺及设计使之成为一个品牌的主要特征.一些以其工艺和创意产业而闻名的城市将会被调查,从而了解文化、产业、工艺、设计和政府对设计的影响.由这些特征所形成的城市品牌也将以一些城市品牌为例来评价.     

A new approach to determine the base shear of steel frame structures

Base shear (V) is the maximum lateral force that will occur due to seismic ground motion at the base of a structure. Calculations of base shear depend on a lot of factors such as soil conditions, level of ductility, fundamental period of vibration of the structure, etc. A great number of methodologies have been developed to determine the dynamic responses of individual frameworks. However, there is no well established empirical solution of the dynamic response of the problem due to the base shear of the steel frames. In this study, a formulation based on NN to determine the dynamic response of both braced and unbraced plane steel frames are provided. The presented formulation is a function of number of stories (ns), bays of the frames (nb), and soil types (Z). The training and testing patterns of the proposed NN formulation are obtained from linear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) solution. The NN-based formulation results are compared with the results obtained from numerical and some current design codes. The NN- based formulation results are found to be more accurate.     

Effect of the particle size of finishing chemicals on the color assessment of treated cotton fabrics

Color change is one of the important side effects of textile treatments to consider. This article evaluates the effect of the particle size of commonly used finishing chemicals (fluorocarbon resins and dimethyloldihydroxylethylene urea reagents) on color assessment by studying instrumental analyses, and it is reported that the smaller the particle size is, the higher the surface reflectance is, and the less the color change can be achieved. On the other hand, the effect of the particle size is not significant on color assessment after abrading cycles. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007     

Gas–liquid mass transfer studies for biomass support materials in a bioreactor

BACKGROUND: Oxygen mass transfer can be described and analyzed by means of the mass transfer coefficient k_La, which is the most important parameter involved in the design and operation of mixing–sparging equipment for bioreactors. In the present study, the effect of biomass support materials on the gas–liquid mass transfer coefficient was studied in a bioreactor under variable process conditions. The biomass support materials used were activated carbon, pumice and loofa sponge. RESULTS: Compared with the case with distilled water only, the presence of the biomass support materials negatively influenced mass transfer. On the other hand, the mass transfer coefficient increased with increased impeller speed, air flow rate and temperature; and decreased with the increase of liquid viscosity and biomass support material concentration for all cases. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of the experimental data showed that k_La values were affected by process variables. Besides the major exponential correlations used in the literature, satisfactory linear correlations for the relationship between the k_La and process variables were obtained. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Poly(acridine orange)-modified glassy carbon electrodes: electrosynthesis,characterisation and sensor application with uric acid

Poly(acridine orange) was electropolymerised on glassy carbon electrodes by potential cycling in phosphate buffer solution at pH 5.5, 6.0, 7.0 and 8.0. Electrochemical behaviour of the modified electrodes was studied by cyclic voltammetry in phosphate buffer solution at various pHs and found that the best polymer film formation was obtained at pH 5.5. Quantitative determination of uric acid was achieved by cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and fixed-potential amperometry in phosphate buffer solution at pH 5.5. Anodic peak currents were linearly proportional to concentration of uric acid in the range 1–75 µM for cyclic voltammetry, 0.4–75 µM for DPV and 0.04–5.3 µM for amperometry. Detection limits were 3.7 × 10^?1, 9.7 × 10^?2 and 9.5 × 10^?3 µM for cyclic voltammetry, DPV and amperometry, respectively. The modified electrodes exhibited good sensitivity, wide linear range and good stability. There is no interference from substances commonly present in natural samples.     

Study on physiochemical structure and in vitro release behaviors of doxycycline‐loaded PCL microspheres

This study aimed to develop drug delivery system of doxycycline‐loaded polycaprolactone (PCL) microspheres. The investigated microsphere formulation can be considered for local application in bone infections and degenerative joint diseases, which generally require long‐term treatments via systemic drugs. PCL‐14 kDa and 65 kDa were used in microsphere preparation. Before release, the microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The mean particle size of microspheres was in the range of 74–122 µm and their drug loadings ranged between 10 and 30%. In vitro release profiles were described using the Higuchi and the Korsmeyer–Peppas equations. Diffusion model was applied to experimental data for estimating diffusion coefficients of microspheres; calculated as between 4.5 × 10^?10 and 9.5 × 10^?10 cm²/s. Although long‐term release from microspheres of PCL‐14 kDa obeyed diffusion model, PCL‐65 kDa microspheres showed this tendency only for some period. Modeling studies showed that the drug release mechanism was mainly dependent on loading and molecular weight differences. Release behavior of PCL‐65 kDa microspheres, however, might be better represented by derivation of a different equation to model for the total release period. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41768     

Afterclearing of disperse dyed polyester with gaseous ozone

The efficiency of ozone treatment for the clearing of disperse dyed polyethylene terephthalate fibres has been examined. The ozone treatment for the clearing of the dyed samples was performed by blowing the ozone gas from the ozone generator on to the wet fabric samples. The results indicated that 3‐ and 5‐min ozonation times were appropriate to achieve comparable wash fastness results with conventional reduction clearing without significant colour differences (ΔE* value) for the samples dyed with CI Disperse Yellow 23 and CI Disperse Blue 79, respectively; however, the ozonation time had to be increased to 15 min for CI Disperse Red 82. Tensile strength tests and scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated that the ozone treatment did not cause any severe damage to the fabrics. Ozone treatment for the afterclearing of disperse dyed polyester fabric can lead to energy and time savings and environmental load reduction when compared with conventional reduction clearing. This study tested a new method of ozone application for clearing of disperse dyed polyester by blowing ozone directly on to the fabric samples. This new method of application has the advantage of being readily adoptable for continuous treatment lines and lower water consumption.