An evaluation of tablet binding agents part II. Pressure binders

Tablet binding agents added during dry granulation or direct compression techniques are termed ‘pressure binders’. Paracetamol is chosen as the substrate for the evaluation of five potential pressure binders. Relative tablet strengths of powder formulations containing binder levels of 80, 50 and 20 wt.% incorporated by dry mixing, are monitored. Binder pressure cohesion, as measured by energy/tablet strength profiles, is the major determinant of binder efficiency at a level of 80 wt.%. At 20 wt.%, the ability of the binder to adhere to the substrate under pressure, as quantitated by an adhesive index A, is the most significant influence on binder efficiency; whilst at a binder level of 50 wt.%, tablet strength is dependent upon both binder pressure cohesion and binder—substrate pressure adhesion.     

Nonlinear mechanical response of high density polyethylene. Part I: Experimental investigation and model evaluation

The nonlinear behavior of high density polyethylene (HDPE) is investigated for samples cut from thick-walled HDPE pipe. Extensive experimental work has been performed to characterize the non-linear time-dependent response of the material tested under uniaxial compression. Tests were conducted under conditions of constant strain rate, creep, stress relaxation, constant loading rate, abrupt change of strain rate, creep-recovery, cyclic strain rate, and various combinations of these loading conditions. Creep and stress relaxation response after strain reversal and the effect of the transient response on the following stress-strain behavior is examined. Permanent strains for the test specimens and their dependence on loading histories are investigated. Specimens cut at various orientations from the pipe are used to quantify the small amounts of local anisotropy in the pipe specimen. The experimental work has been used to develop both nonlinear viscoelastic (NVE) and viscoplastic (VP) constitutive models in a companion paper. Both the test results and the corresponding model predictions are reported in this paper. It is found that the VP model reproduces the nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic behavior of HDPE very well provided that the current strain is not below the maximum strain imposed (there is no strain reversal). The NVE model predicts the material behavior reasonably well for some loading conditions, but inadequately for others.     

QoS-based Task Group Deployment on Grid by Learning the Performance Data

Overhead of executing fine-grain tasks on computational grids led to task group or batch deployment in which a batch is resized according to the characteristics of the tasks, designated resource, and the interconnecting network. An economic grid demands an application to be processed within the given budget and deadline, referred to as the quality of service (QoS) requirements. In this paper, we increase the task success rate in an economic grid by optimally mapping the tasks to the resources prior to the batch deployment. The task-resource mapping (Advance QoS Planning) is decided based on QoS requirement and by mining the historical performance data of the application tasks using a genetic algorithm. The mapping is then used to assist in creating the task groups. Practical experiments are conducted to validate the proposed method and suggestions are given to implement our method in a cloud environment as well as to process real-time tasks.     

Separation of particles using acoustic streaming and radiation forces in an open microfluidic channel

In this study, a method to separate particles, within a small sample, based on size is demonstrated using ultrasonic actuation. This is achieved in a fluid, which has been deposited on a flat surface and is contained by a channel, such that it has a rectangular wetted area. The system utilises acoustic radiation forces (ARFs) and acoustic streaming. The force field generates two types of stable collection locations, a lower one within the liquid suspension medium and an upper one at the liquid–air interface. Acoustic streaming selectively delivers smaller particles from the lower locations to the upper ones. Experimental data demonstrate the ability to separate two sets of polystyrene microparticles, with diameters of 3 and 10 μm, into different stable locations. Methods to reduce migration of larger particles to the free surface are also investigated, thereby maximising the efficiency of the separation. Extraction of one set of 99 % pure particles at the liquid–air interface from the initial particle mixture using a manual pipette is demonstrated here. In addition, computational modelling performed suggests the critical separation size can be tuned by scaling the size of the system to alter which of ARFs and acoustic streaming-induced drag forces is dominant for given particle sizes, therefore presenting an approach to tunable particle separation system based on size.     

Innovative technologies for high performance textiles

Increasing global competition in textiles has created many challenges for European dyers and finishers. The rapid growth in technical textiles and in their end-uses has generated many opportunities for the application of innovative chemical finishes. Novel finishes of high added value for apparel fabrics are also greatly appreciated by a more discerning and demanding consumer market. This review will concentrate on some of the new approaches to producing high added value textiles that provide consumers with greater levels of comfort, safety, aesthetics and functional performance. Some of the technologies to be described are developed to the commercial exploitation stage, while others are still in development but offer potential for the future. Textile finishing personnel and companies must be active in keeping abreast of the developments in chemical finishing that are emerging globally, in order to survive and prosper in this very competitive and cost-conscious sector of the textile industry. The future of textile finishing within Europe depends upon rapid adoption of high performance, high added value finishes that provide innovation and novelty to the consumer, and in seeking out new end-uses and markets for such finishes.     

Improved oxidative stability of veal lipids and cholesterol through dietary vitamin E supplementation

The influence of dietary vitamin E supplementation on the α-tocopherol content of muscle membranes and on the resultant oxidative stability of veal was investigated. Daily supplementation of veal calves with 500 mg vitamin E in the form of α-tocopherol acetate for 12 weeks after birth increased muscle and membranal α-tocopherol concentrations approximately 6-fold over those of control animals. Oxidative stability of mitochondrial and microsomal lipids was enhanced by dietary supplementation as indicated by the results of an oxidative assay using hydrogen peroxide-activated metmyoglobin as the catalyst of oxidation. Muscle lipid and cholesterol stability was also improved by supplementation.     

Reference in 160 Characters or Less: The Role of Text Messaging in Virtual Reference Services

This study focuses on how and why academic library patrons choose text message reference, particularly when other mediums are available. Researchers evaluated three years of text reference data to assess the peak usage times, types of questions received, the number of unique and repeat users, and the complexity of questions. Our analysis of data shows that text reference can fill a role within virtual reference services. We further identify reasons why text message services have not seen greater use, including students’ lack of awareness, limitations of the medium, and patron satisfaction with other modes of reference.     

A cross-layer communication module for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel networking paradigm which allows the communication among all sorts of physical objects over the Internet. The IoT defines a world-wide cyber-physical system with a plethora of applications in the fields of domotics, e-health, goods monitoring and logistics, among others. The use of cross-layer communication schemes to provide adaptive solutions for the IoT is motivated by the high heterogeneity in the hardware capabilities and the communication requirements among things. In this paper, a novel cross-layer module for the IoT is proposed to accurately capture both the high heterogeneity of the IoT and the impact of the Internet as part of the network architecture. The fundamental part of the module is a mathematical framework, which is developed to obtain the optimal routing paths and the communication parameters among things, by exploiting the interrelations among different layer functionalities in the IoT. Moreover, a cross-layer communication protocol is presented to implement this optimization framework in practical scenarios. The results show that the proposed solution can achieve a global communication optimum and outperforms existing layered solutions. The novel cross-layer module is a primary step towards providing efficient and reliable end-to-end communication in the IoT.     

Fine-Grain Interoperability of Scientific Workflows in Distributed Computing Infrastructures

Today there exist a wide variety of scientific workflow management systems, each designed to fulfill the needs of a certain scientific community. Unfortunately, once a workflow application has been designed in one particular system it becomes very hard to share it with users working with different systems. Portability of workflows and interoperability between current systems barely exists. In this work, we present the fine-grained interoperability solution proposed in the SHIWA European project that brings together four representative European workflow systems: ASKALON, MOTEUR, WS-PGRADE, and Triana. The proposed interoperability is realised at two levels of abstraction: abstract and concrete. At the abstract level, we propose a generic Interoperable Workflow Intermediate Representation (IWIR) that can be used as a common bridge for translating workflows between different languages independent of the underlying distributed computing infrastructure. At the concrete level, we propose a bundling technique that aggregates the abstract IWIR representation and concrete task representations to enable workflow instantiation, execution and scheduling. We illustrate case studies using two real-workflow applications designed in a native environment and then translated and executed by a foreign workflow system in a foreign distributed computing infrastructure.