In vitro and in vivo evaluations of a novel pulsed and controlled osmotic pump capsule

Objective: For better treatment of circadian cardiovascular events, a novel Propranolol hydrochloride (PNH) delayed-release osmotic pump capsule was developed.

Methods: The capsule body was designed of asymmetric membrane and the capsule cap was made impermeable. The physical characteristics of capsule body walls and membrane permeability were compared among different coating solutions.

Results: The formulation with the glycerin and diethyl phthalate (DEP) ratio of 5:4 appeared to be the best. The lag time and subsequent drug release were investigated through assembling the capsule body with capsule caps of different length. WSR N-10 was chosen as the suspending for its moderate expanding capacity. The influence of factors (WSR N-10 content, NaCl content and capsule cap length) on the responses (lag time and drug release rate) was evaluated using central composite design-response surface methodology. A second-order polynomial equation was fitted to the data and actual response values were in good accordance with the predicted ones. The optimized formulation displayed complete drug delivery, zero-order release rate with 4-h lag time. The results of in vivo pharmacokinetics in beagle dogs clearly suggested the controlled and sustained release of PNH from the system and that the relative bioavailability of this preparation was about 1.023 comparing the marketed preparation.

Conclusions: These results indicate that by the adjustment of capsule cap length, PNH could be developed as a novel pulsatile and controlled drug delivery system.     

Potentials of proniosomes for improving the oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs

Objective: The objectives of this study were, first, to develop a free-flowing and stable proniosome formulation for poorly water-soluble drugs such as vinpocetine; and second, to estimate its bioavailability as oral drug delivery system.

Methods: The proniosomes consisting of span60, cholesterol, sorbitol and vinpocetine were prepared by a novel approach. After the proniosomes were contacted with water, the suspension of vinpocetine-loaded niosomes formed automatically. The proniosomes and reconstituted niosomes were evaluated for their physicochemical characteristics, in vitro drug dissolution and release, integrity and stability at different GI tract pH conditions, in situ single-pass intestinal perfusion and in vivo bioavailability.

Results: The proniosome powder exhibited excellent flowability. The reconstituted niosomes with high drug entrapment efficiency (89.67?±?3.28%) showed spherical morphology with smooth surface under transmission electron microscope (TEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that the drug was in an amorphous or molecular state in proniosome powder. In vitro dissolution and release study, proniosomes did enhance the dissolution and release rate compared to vinpocetine suspension in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.2). Proniosome-derived niosomes could keep their integrity and stability at different GI tract pH conditions. The in situ single-pass intestinal perfusion indicated that encapsulation of vinpocetine into niosomes could largely improved the absorption of vinpocetine. The AUC(0?∞) of F2 and F3 was about 4.0- and 4.9-fold higher than that of the vinpocetine suspension, respectively. The results demonstrated the proniosomes indeed remarkably enhanced the oral bioavailability of vinpocetine.

Conclusion: This study suggested the potential of proniosomes as stable precursors for the immediate preparation of niosome carrier systems.     

Developing New Multivariate Process Capability Indices for Autocorrelated Data

Traditionally, the process capability index is developed assuming that the process output data are independent and follow normal distribution. However, in most environmental cases, the process data have more than one quality characteristic and exhibit property of autocorrelation. We propose two novel multivariate process capability indices for autocorrelated data, NMAC_p and NMAC_pm, for the nominal‐the‐best case. For the smaller‐the‐better case, Γ(0) is used to modify the ND index and a new multivariate autocorrelated process capability index NMAC_pu is derived. Furthermore, a simulation study is conducted to compare the performance of the various multivariate autocorrelated indices. The simulation results show that the actual nonconforming rates can be correctly reflected by our proposed indices, which outperform the previous C_p^m, MC_p, MC_pm, NMC_p, NMC_pm, and ND indices under different time series models. Thus, our proposed capability indices can be used in evaluating the performance of multivariate autocorrelated processes. Finally, a realistic example in hydrological application further demonstrates the usefulness of our proposed capability indices. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A 3D domain decomposition approach for the identification of spatially varying elastic material parameters

The post‐treatment of (3D) displacement fields for the identification of spatially varying elastic material parameters is a large inverse problem that remains out of reach for massive 3D structures. We explore here the potential of the constitutive compatibility method for tackling such an inverse problem, provided an appropriate domain decomposition technique is introduced. In the method described here, the statically admissible stress field that can be related through the known constitutive symmetry to the kinematic observations is sought through minimization of an objective function, which measures the violation of constitutive compatibility. After this stress reconstruction, the local material parameters are identified with the given kinematic observations using the constitutive equation. Here, we first adapt this method to solve 3D identification problems and then implement it within a domain decomposition framework which allows for reduced computational load when handling larger problems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new hybrid boundary node method based on Taylor expansion and the Shepard interpolation method

A novel meshless method based on the Shepard and Taylor interpolation method (STIM) and the hybrid boundary node method (HBNM) is proposed. Based on the Shepard interpolation method and Taylor expansion, the STIM is developed to construct the shape function of the HBNM. In the STIM, the Shepard shape function is used as the basic function, which is the zero‐level shape function, and the high‐power basic functions are constructed through Taylor expansion. Four advantages of the STIM are the interpolation property, the arbitrarily high‐order consistency, the absence of inversion for the whole process of shape function construction, and the low computational expense. These properties are desirable in the implementation of meshless methods. By combining the STIM and the HBNM, a much more effective meshless method is proposed to solve the elasticity problems. Compared with the traditional HBNM, the STIM can improve accuracy because of the use of high‐power basic functions and can also improve the computational efficiency because there is no inversion for the shape function construction process. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于Moodle软件的《三维机械产品设计》课程项目化教学系统构建

针对《三维机械产品设计》课程教学中存在的问题,本文提出模块化的系统设计思想,运用Moodle软件对课程进行系统构建,并对系统构建的功能等进行详细阐述,以此结合现代教育理念提升学生对课程知识的实际运用能力。     

用于梳状结构光学测速系统的周期优化方法

为了提高梳状结构光学测速系统的测速精度,采用数学原理研究了梳状结构的间距大小对输出光强信号周期性的影响,通过优化输出光强信号的周期性来提高测速精度,并采用一种结合图像处理选择最佳间距的实验方法,进行了相关的理论分析,对两种不同路面进行了实验仿真验证,得到不同间距下不同的输出光强信号的周期性情况。结果表明,当栅状结构的间距大小与地面特征点大小一致时,得到的输出光强周期性最优,对于普通的柏油和水泥路面,对应到地面的最佳栅状结构间距大小为1.0mm ~1.5mm。     

基于压缩传感和EMD距离的视频镜头关键帧提取

关键帧提取是视频内容分析与检索技术的核心问题。提出一种基于压缩传感和EMD距离的关键帧提取方法,首先构造一个符合有限等距性质的稀疏矩阵,将帧高维特征投影到低维空间,然后通过计算帧低维特征之间的调节余弦相似度完成子镜头分割。在各子镜头中,利用EMD距离计算帧与子镜头中心的差异,并选择差异最小值所对应的帧作为该子镜头的关键帧。实验结果表明,该方法提取的关键帧能够对视频内容进行准确的描述。     

混合蛙跳在网络编码协作系统资源分配中的应用

网络编码协作中继技术能合理分配IMT-Advanced的资源,从而提高系统性能,受到了广大学者的关注。针对基于网络编码的双向多中继协作系统,提出基于混合蛙跳的资源分配方案。以最小化系统传输功率为优化目标,在满足用户QoS下,推导每个节点的最优化功率,建立最优化资源分配模型,利用混合蛙跳算法解决系统资源分配问题。仿真结果表明,在满足单节点QoS下,所提出的基于混合蛙跳的资源分配方案能有效减小系统的总功率,提高了系统性能。     

地基望远镜风载数值分析

风载是影响地基望远镜性能的主要因素之一,为了研究风载荷的作用以及对望远镜性能的影响程度,首先建立了望远镜、圆顶和流场的几何模型。然后利用CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics)分析了在外界风速为10 m/s 的情况下,3 种不同高角(30、60、120)流场中截面空气速度、压力、湍流动能以及主镜面的静压力的瞬态分布,最后通过有限元方法获得了主镜去除刚体位移后的面形。仿真结果表明,望远镜以不同高角观测时主镜面静压力功率谱密度与Gemini 望远镜的实测结果接近,真实模拟了风载荷的作用。由风载引起的镜面变形RMS 值分别为3.74E-1 nm,2.5E-2 nm,1.71E-1 nm,满足面形精度要求。