Improved Dermal and Transdermal Delivery of Curcumin with SmartFilms and Nanocrystals

Poor aqueous solubility of active compounds is a major issue in today’s drug delivery. In this study the smartFilm-technology was exploited to improve the dermal penetration efficacy of a poorly soluble active compound (curcumin). Results were compared to the dermal penetration efficacy of curcumin from curcumin bulk suspensions and nanocrystals, respectively. The smartFilms enabled an effective dermal and transdermal penetration of curcumin, whereas curcumin bulk- and nanosuspensions were less efficient when the curcumin content was similar to the curcumin content in the smartFilms. Interestingly, it was found that increasing numbers of curcumin particles within the suspensions increased the passive dermal penetration of curcumin. The effect is caused by an aqueous meniscus that is created between particle and skin if the dispersion medium evaporates. The connecting liquid meniscus causes a local swelling of the stratum corneum and maintains a high local concentration gradient between drug particles and skin. Thus, leading to a high local passive dermal penetration of curcumin. The findings suggest a new dermal penetration mechanism for active compounds from nano-particulate drug delivery systems, which can be the base for the development of topical drug products with improved penetration efficacy in the future.     

基于瑞利熵的多无源传感器数据关联算法

针对当前多无源传感器数据关联算法构造关联代价时,未考虑位置估计不确定性所引入的误差,提出一种基于位置估计不确定性的被动传感器数据关联算法。首先通过量测与伪量测概率密度函数之间的瑞利熵构建关联代价函数,以准确描述两个相似的概率密度函数之间差异,然后通过具体实验测试本文算法的有效性和优越性。实验结果表明,相对于当前经典的数据关联算法,本文算法提高了数据关联的正确率和速度,具有更高的实际应用价值。     

地面积水与装甲目标毫米波被动探测信号差异研究

以往毫米波被动探测中以平面金属目标代替立体金属目标(如装甲目标),而平面金属目标的探测信号又和地面积水的探测信号非常相似,所以导致这三种目标难以分辨。针对这一问题,从毫米波被动探测平面金属、积水、装甲目标探测信号的基本理论出发,通过建立目标模型、推导天线温度计算模型,仿真得到了这三种目标的探测信号,查找信号差异并分析总结了造成差异的根源。仿真结果证实了分析的正确性和有效性,为地面装甲目标识别算法的研究提供了必要的理论支撑和分析依据。     

Effects of Grape Polyphenols on the Life Span and Neuroinflammatory Alterations Related to Neurodegenerative Parkinson Disease-Like Disturbances in Mice

Functional nutrition is a valuable supplementation to dietary therapy. Functional foods are enriched with biologically active substances. Plant polyphenols attract particular attention due to multiple beneficial properties attributed to their high antioxidant and other biological activities. We assessed the effect of grape polyphenols on the life span of C57BL/6 mice and on behavioral and neuroinflammatory alterations in a transgenic mouse model of Parkinson disease (PD) with overexpression of the A53T-mutant human α-synuclein. C57BL/6 mice were given a dietary supplement containing grape polyphenol concentrate (GPC—1.5 mL/kg/day) with drinking water from the age of 6–8 weeks for life. Transgenic PD mice received GPC beginning at the age of 10 weeks for four months. GPC significantly influenced the cumulative proportion of surviving and substantially augmented the average life span in mice. In the transgenic PD model, the grape polyphenol (GP) diet enhanced memory reconsolidation and diminished memory extinction in a passive avoidance test. Behavioral effects of GP treatment were accompanied by a decrease in α-synuclein accumulation in the frontal cortex and a reduction in the expression of neuroinflammatory markers (IBA1 and CD54) in the frontal cortex and hippocampus. Thus, a GP-rich diet is recommended as promising functional nutrition for aging people and patients with neurodegenerative disorders.     

滑坡冲击铲刮变量的计算方法研究

高速远程滑坡运动过程中,冲击铲刮效应不仅增加滑坡的体积与规模,而且会增大滑坡成灾范围,风险预测与判断出现明显误差,导致灾难性事件的发生。目前对于高速滑坡的铲刮深度、铲刮范围和铲刮体积等变量计算往往是采用基于经验的铲刮率算法,其是通过体积增量来反算铲刮变量的数学方法,而实际情况中高速滑坡的冲击铲刮是滑体冲击力和地表可铲刮材料之间的力学屈服破坏作用的结果。本文基于接触力学、弹塑性力学和岩土力学,提出了地表可铲刮层在附加冲击荷载作用下铲刮变量的理论计算方法,认为竖向冲击和切向剪切是滑体冲击铲刮过程的两种主要作用方式。结合实际岩土体材料参数,发现不考虑切向荷载时,铲刮层塑性区主要以竖向破裂区为主,考虑切向荷载时,铲刮层塑性区沿切向迁移,直至塑性边界贯通至地表,符合实际情况,实现了对铲刮变量的定量化计算。     

重力匹配导航的影响模式分析

从重力场匹配导航的改进TERCOM算法入手,针对采样长度、采样间隔以及重力测量误差对匹配结果的影响进行了系统分析,并在此基础上利用海洋年度重力测量数据设计了准实时仿真试验,结果表明:(1)采样长度对匹配结果有重要的影响,采样长度与重力基准图的分辨率比值在10~20之间时,能够获得较好的匹配效果;(2)适当增加采样间隔可以在一定程度上提高匹配的整体精度,但增加了匹配失效的风险,实际应用中采样间隔以2~4 min为宜;(3)重力测量白噪声误差对匹配结果影响相对较大,过大的误差将不能得到有效匹配,水下重力测量误差最好能控制在2 mGal以内。     

Passive adaptive control of chaos in synchronous reluctance motor

The performance of synchronous reluctance motor （SynRM） degrades due to chaos when its systemic parameters fall into a certain area. To control the undesirable chaos in SynRM, a passive control law is presented in this paper, which transforms the chaotic SynRM into an equivalent passive system. It is proved that the equivalent system can be asymptotically stabilized at the set equilibrium point, namely, chaos in SynRM can be controlled. Moreover, in order to eliminate the influence of undeterministic parameters, an adaptive law is introduced into the designed controller. Computer simulation results show that the proposed controller is very effective and robust against the uncertainties in systemic parameters. The present study may help to maintain the secure operation of industrial servo drive system.     

Perspective methods of human identification: Ear biometrics

Geometrical methods of feature extraction from ear images in order to perform human identification are presented. Geometrical approach is motivated by the actual procedures used by police and forensic experts (so-called ear otoscopy). In their work, geometrical features of ears such as size, height, width, and shapes of earlobe are useful and valid proofs of identity. The contribution of the article is development of the new and original methods of geometrical feature extraction from 2D ear images. Four novel algorithms of ear feature extraction from contour images are described in detail. Moreover, identification results obtained for each of the methods, based on the distance of feature vectors in the feature space, are presented.     

Passive infrared detector used for detection of very slowly moving of crawling people

The paper presents construction and principle of operation of passive IR detectors (PIR detectors) of a large detection range. Important virtue of these detectors is highly efficient detection of slowly moving or crawling people. The described here PIR detector detects crawling people at the distance of 140 m. To ensure high probability of detection of slowly moving objects, new method of signals analysis was applied. On the basis of the carried out real-time measurements, both probability of detection and false alarms were determined.     

3D analysis of in-filled trench as passive barriers for ground vibration isolation

The three-dimensional (3D) problem of the ground vibration isolation by an in-filled trench as a passive barrier is studied theoretically. Integral equations governing Rayleigh wave scattering are derived based on the Green’s solution of Lamb problem. The integral equations are solved accurately and efficiently with an iteration technique. They are used to evaluate the complicated Rayleigh wave field generated by irregular scatterers embedded in an elastic half-space solid. The passive isolation effectiveness of ground vibration by the in-filled trench for screening Rayleigh wave is further studied in detail. Effects of relevant parameters on the effectiveness of vibration isolation are investigated and presented. The results show that a trench filled with stiff backfill material gets a better isolation effect than a soft one, and increasing the depth or width of the in-filled trench also improves its screening effectiveness. The effectiveness and the area of the screened zone are surging with the increase in the length of the in-filled trench. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50678128 and 50538010) and the Research Fund for PhD Student of Chinese College (Grant No. 20050247030)