Synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol)/polypeptide/poly(D,L‐lactide) copolymers and their nanoparticles

Core‐shell structured nanoparticles of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)/polypeptide/poly(D ,L ‐lactide) (PLA) copolymers were prepared and their properties were investigated. The copolymers had a poly(L ‐serine) or poly(L ‐phenylalanine) block as a linker between a hydrophilic PEG and a hydrophobic PLA unit. They formed core‐shell structured nanoparticles, where the polypeptide block resided at the interface between a hydrophilic PEG shell and a hydrophobic PLA core. In the synthesis, poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐poly(L ‐serine) (PEG‐PSER) was prepared by ring opening polymerization of N‐carboxyanhydride of O‐(tert‐butyl)‐L ‐serine and subsequent removal of tert‐butyl groups. Poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐poly(L ‐phenylalanine) (PEG‐PPA) was obtained by ring opening polymerization of N‐carboxyanhydride of L ‐phenylalanine. Methoxy‐poly(ethylene glycol)‐amine with a MW of 5000 was used as an initiator for both polymerizations. The polymerization of D ,L ‐lactide by initiation with PEG‐PSER and PEG‐PPA produced a comb‐like copolymer, poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐[poly(L ‐serine)‐g‐poly(D ,L ‐lactide)] (PEG‐PSER‐PLA) and a linear copolymer, poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐poly(L ‐phenylalanine)‐b‐poly(D ,L ‐lactide) (PEG‐PPA‐PLA), respectively. The nanoparticles obtained from PEG‐PPA‐PLA showed a negative zeta potential value of ?16.6 mV, while those of PEG‐PSER‐PLA exhibited a positive value of about 19.3 mV. In pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution at 36 °C, the nanoparticles of PEG/polypeptide/PLA copolymers showed much better stability than those of a linear PEG‐PLA copolymer having a comparable molecular weight. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Biodegradable thermo‐ and pH‐responsive hydrogels for oral drug delivery

In this article, novel smart hydrogels based on biodegradable pH sensitive poly(L ‐glutamic acid‐g‐2‐hydroxylethyl methacrylate) (PGH) chains and temperature‐sensitive hydroxypropylcellulose‐g‐acrylic acid (HPC‐g‐AA) segments were designed and synthesized. The influence of pH and temperature on the equilibrium swelling ratios of the hydrogels was discussed. The optical transmittance of the hydrogels was also changed as a function of temperature, which reflecting that the HPC‐g‐AA part of the hydrogels became hydrophobic at the temperature above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST). At the same time, the LCST of the hydrogels had a visible pH‐dependent behavior. Scanning electron microscopic analysis revealed the morphology of the hydrogels before and after enzymatic degradation. The biodegradation rate of the hydrogels was directly related to the PGH content and the pH value. The in vitro release of bovine serum albumin from the hydrogels were investigated. The release profiles indicated that both the HPC‐g‐AA and PGH contents played important roles in the drug release behaviors. These results show that the smart hydrogels seem to be of great promise in pH–temperature oral drug delivery systems. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Three different β‐cyclodextrins direct the emulsion copolymerization of a highly fluorinated methacrylate toward distinctive nanostructured particle morphologies

Stable colloidal dispersions of nanostructured semifluorinated acrylic particles with an unfluorinated core and an outer layer consisting of copolymers of the highly hydrophobic and lipophobic heptadecafluorodecyl methacrylate (FMA) were successfully synthesized with the assistance of three different cyclodextrins as phase‐transfer catalysts: β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD), hydroxypropyl β‐cyclodextrin (HpCD), and methyl β‐cyclodextrin (MeCD). While all the cyclodextrins form a stable inclusion complex (IC) with FMA, only the ICs with the more hydrophilic HpCD and MeCD are soluble in water. Nevertheless, incorporation of FMA in the particle shell copolymer could be achieved also when using β‐CD. On the other hand, the morphology of the nanostructured particles was characterized by a “patchy” fluorinated shell dependent on the cyclodextrin used, the best results being obtained with MeCD. A monomer‐starved semicontinuous emulsion polymerization procedure was essential to favor the CD‐mediated incorporation of FMA into the copolymer structure and to achieve a stable colloidal dispersion even in the presence of small amounts of mixed anionic–nonionic surfactants. The thermal and surface properties of the latex films showed a good correlation with the shell composition and patchy nanostructured morphology of the particles. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

NorTRACK product tracking system—development and implementation

This paper presents the experience gained by developers and users with implementation and operation of NorTRACK^TM, a real-time computerized product tracking system. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) collects and transfers data in real time to NorTRACK’s Oracle^TM database on a Windows NT^TM server network. After extensive development and Beta testing at MDS Nordion’s Canadian Irradiation Centre in Montreal, Canada, NorTRACK was installed in January 1997 with a new irradiation facility in Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.’s Albuquerque plant in the United States. NorTRACK communicates with the irradiator control and safety system, the plant's central manufacturing database, an innovative pallet staging and tote loading robot, and an automated dosimetry reading system. This integrated system allows the sterilization facility to monitor the irradiator operation and the flow of many products, through varied processing modes, continuously and reliably. As a result of operating with NorTRACK, both MDS Nordion’s CIC facility and the Endo-Surgery manufacturing site, are beginning to realize unique benefits in their respective operations. MDS Nordion is also initiating several future product enhancements and additional productivity modules. This paper describes the NorTRACK system, the various stages of the development project and Beta tests, and the experience of the users to date in their operations.     

Demand dispersion and logistics costs in one-to-many distribution systems

When an organization decides on which groups of consumers it should target, the locations of these target consumers often play a role. Methods from the field of market segmentation are able to identify target groups with high benefit levels, but the expected costs of supplying products to the target groups are less well understood. These costs can play a large role if the locations of the customers, the demand locations, are geographically widely dispersed. This paper focuses on one-to-many distribution systems in which a central facility serves all demand points. We derive accurate logistics cost estimates from the dispersion of demand points for such systems, enabling a comparison of the expected logistics costs of different candidate target groups. The most accurate measure combines the average distance from the demand locations to a central location and the mutual distances between neighboring demand locations. The average of the distances between all pairs of locations forms a good alternative measure.     

基于性能的直流电机系统未知推力波动的自适应补偿控制

针对一类直流电机系统,设计基于性能的未知推力波动的自适应补偿控制器.由于推力波动中含有非线性化的未知参数,因此无法利用常规的自适应方法,通过直接估计这些参数对其影响进行补偿.根据未知推力波动的结构特性,基于Lipshitz条件引入推力波动项的放大技术,设计其内部非线性化未知参数的自适应估计律,精确补偿其影响,从而避免了简单的把波动看作未知扰动所造成的系统性能的损失.有别于现有模型,在模型变换中并未忽略微小等效电感的影响,使得系统模型更具一般性.仿真结果表明该自适应控制器可有效补偿推力波动的影响,实现对指令信号的高精度快速跟踪且具有较强的抗干扰性和鲁棒性.     

Finite-time lag synchronization of coupled reaction–diffusion systems with time-varying delay via periodically intermittent control

In this paper, the issue of finite-time lag synchronization of coupled reaction–diffusion systems with time-varying delay (CRDSTD) is considered. A periodically intermittent controller is designed such that drive system and corresponding response system can achieve finite-time lag synchronization. By using graph theory and Lyapunov method, two sufficient criteria are presented to guarantee the finite-time lag synchronization of CRDSTD. Moreover, the time of achieving lag synchronization of CRDSTD is estimated. Finally, a numerical example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed results.     

Weyl-Titchmarsh theory for symplectic difference systems

In this work, we establish Weyl-Titchmarsh theory for symplectic difference systems. This paper extends classical Weyl-Titchmarsh theory and provides a foundation for studying spectral theory of symplectic difference systems.