Critical points in the formulation of pharmaceutical swellable controlled release dosage forms-Influence of particle size

Swellable matrix represents one of the most employed controlled release systems. These dosage forms provide slow release of drugs to reduce the fluctuation of drug concentration in plasma in order to improve the efficiency of treatment and/or to reduce adverse effects. The application of the concepts of statistical physics has allowed discovering the existence of critical points in the formulation of swellable matrices. These points, representing the volume fractions of the tablet components where the properties of the matrix diverge or change suddenly, provide important knowledge of how to rationalize the design of swellable matrices. The critical points are generally related to the percolation threshold of one of the components of the formulation, which corresponds to a geometrical phase transition of this component, passing from isolation to spanning the whole system. The last section of the paper is devoted to more recent findings concerning the influence of particle size of the components on the percolation threshold of the matrix forming polymer, and therefore on the release behaviour of the matrix. Knowledge of the excipient percolation threshold allows a more rational design of swellable matrices, according to the guidelines of the regulatory authorities concerning science-based formulation and quality by design.     

Flow of a biomagnetic viscoelastic fluid: application to estimation of blood flow in arteries during electromagnetic hyperthermia,a therapeutic procedure for cancer treatment

The paper deals with the theoretical investigation of a fundamental problem of biomaguetic fluid flow through a porous medium subject to a magnetic field by using the principles of biomagnetic fluid dynamics （BFD）. The study pertains to a situation where magnetization of the fluid varies with temperature. The fluid is considered to be non-Newtonian, whose flow is governed by the equation of a second-grade viscoelastic fluid. The walls of the channel are assumed to be stretchable, where the surface velocity is proportional to the longitudinal distance from the origin of coordinates. The problem is first reduced to solving a system of coupled nonlinear differential equations involving seven parameters. Considering blood as a biomagnetic fluid and using the present analysis, an attempt is made to compute some parameters of the blood flow by developing a suitable numerical method and by devising an appropriate finite difference scheme. The computational results are presented in graphical form, and thereby some theoretical predictions are made with respect to the hemodynamical flow of the blood in a hyperthermal state under the action of a magnetic field. The results clearly indicate that the presence of a magnetic dipole bears the potential so as to affect the characteristics of the blood flow in arteries to a significant extent during the therapeutic procedure of electromagnetic hyperthermia. The study will attract the attention of clinicians, to whom the results would be useful in the treatment of cancer patients by the method of electromagnetic hyperthermia.     

STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR CONSIDERING THE MATERIAL PLASTICITY LIMITED IN SCOPE

For the practical metallic material,preceding the fracture,there always exist thedomains of plasticity.For the plasticity limited in scope,the linear elastic mechanics is stillapplicable,but it is neccesary to correct the influence of the domain of plasticity.thetraditional method of correction(Irwin’s method)is to introduce the conception of theeffective fracture length,namely.owing to the existence of the domain of plasticity.thepractical length of the fracture increases.If we take the length of the fracture to be equal tothe effective fracture length 2(α r_y).where 2a is the original length of the fracture and 2r_yis the added length.we may not regard the existence of the domain of plasticity and still usethe linear elastic fracture mechanics to deal with.In this paper.we regard that owing to the existence of the domain of plasticity,thepractical fracture length and the extrernal applied stress both increase,i.e.,the value of thetwo parameters a and σ_1(external applied stress)both change.In this     

PREDICTION OF THE VISCOELASTIC PROPERTIES OF THE EQUIVALENT PARTICLE FOR THE INTERCALATED MULTI-LAYER STACK OF NANOPLASTICS

The aim of this paper is to apply the asymptotic homogenization method to deter- mining analytically and numerically the transversely isotropic viscoelastic relaxation moduli of the equivalent particle for the intercalated multi-layer stack of intercalated type nanoplastics.A two-phase multilayered material containing n layers is considered.The matrix is assumed to be an isotropic viscoelastic standard linear body and the reinforcement is assumed to be an isotropic elastic body.Final explicit analytical formulae for the effective elastic moduli of the multilay- ered material are derived first;and then the correspondence principle is employed to obtain the homogenized relaxation moduli of the equivalent intercalated particle.A numerical example is given.Final explicit analytical formulae in the time domain derived here make it convenient to estimate the influence of all the particle parameters of micro-structural details on the effective properties of the equivalent intercalated particle.The results of this paper can also be applied to multi-layer composites.     

Sensitivity analysis for a type of statically stable sailcrafts

Two types of sensitivities are proposed for statically stable sailcrafts.One type is the sensitivities of solar-radiation-pressure force with respect to position of the center of mass,and the other type is the sensitivities of solar-radiation-pressure force with respect to attitude.The two types of sensitivities represent how the solar-radiationpressure force changes with the position of mass center and the attitude.Sailcrafts with larger sensitivities undergo larger error of the solar-radiation-pressure force,leading to larger orbit error,as demonstrated by simulation.Then as a case study,detailed formulas are derived to calculate the sensitivities for sailcrafts with four triangular sails.According to these formulas,in order to reduce both types of sensitivities,the angle between opposed sails should not be too large,and the center of mass should be as close to the axis of symmetry of the four sails as possible and as far away from the center of pressure of the sailcraft as possible.     

ANALYSIS ON TRANSVERSE IMPACT RESPONSE OF AN UNRESTRAINED TIMOSHENKO BEAM

A moving rigid-body and an unrestrained Timoshenko beam, which is subjected to the transverse impact of the rigid-body, are treated as a contact-impact system. The generalized Fourier-series method was used to derive the characteristic equation and the characteristic function of the system. The analytical solutions of the impact responses for the system were presented. The responses can be divided into two parts : elastic responses and rigid responses. The momentum sum of elastic responses of the contact-impact system is demonstrated to be zero, which makes the rigid responses of the system easy to evaluate according to the principle of momentum conservation.     

Elastodynamic analysis of anisotropic liquid-saturated porous medium due to mechanical sources

Elastodynamic analysis of an anisotropic liquid-saturated porous medium is made to study a deformation problem of a transversely isotropic liquid-saturated porous medium due to mechanical sources.Certain physical problems are of the nature,in which the deformation takes place only in one direction,e.g.,the problem relating to deformed structures and columns.In soil mechanics,an assumption of only vertical subsidence is often invoked and this leads to the one dimensional model of poroelasticity.By consid- ering a model of one-dimensional deformation of the anisotropic liquid-saturated porous medium,variations in disturbances are observed with reference to time and distance. The distributions of displacements and stresses are affected due to the anisotropy of the medium,and also due to the type of sources causing the disturbances.     

On the viscosity of magnetic fluid with low and moderate solid fraction

The design of a pressurized capillary rheometer operating at prescribed temperature is described to measure the viscosity of magnetic fluids （MFs） containing Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles （MNPs）. The equipment constant of the rheometer was obtained using liquids with predetermined viscosities. Experimentally measured viscosities were used to evaluate different equations for suspension viscosities. Deviation of measured suspension viscosities from the Einstein equation was found to be basically due to the influence of spatial distribution and aggregation of Fe3O4 MNPs. By taking account of the coating layer on MNPs and the aggregation of MNPs in MFs, a modified Einstein equation was proposed to fit the experimental data. Moreover, the influence of external magnetic field on viscosity was also taken into account. Viscosities thus predicted are in good agreement with experimental data. Temperature effect on suspension viscosity was shown experimentally to be due to the shear-thinning behavior of the MFs.     

Exponential dichotomies of nonlinear discrete systems and its application to numerical analysis and computation

In this pepar we consider the upwind difference scheme of a kind of boundary value problems for nonlinear, second order, ordinary differential equations. Singular perturbation method is applied to construct the asymptotic approximation of the solution to the upwind difference equation. Using the theory of exponential dichotomies we show that the solution of an order-reduced equation is a good approximation of the solution to the upwind difference equation except near boundaries. We construct correctors which yield asymptotic approximations by adding them to the solution of the order-reduced equation. Finally, some numerical examples are illustrated.     

Influences of oscillatory structural forces on dewetting of nanoparticle-laden ultra-thin films

To understand the influences of nanoparticleson dewetting in ultra-thin films,both linear stability theory and numerical simulations are performed in the presentstudy,with the consideration of oscillatory structural(OS)forces.Long scale approximation is utilized to simplify thehydrodynamic and diffusion equations to a nonlinear systemfor film thickness and nanoparticle concentration.Resultsshow that the presence of nanoparticles generally suppressesthe dewetting process.Two physical mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon are addressed in the present study.When the oscillatory structural forces are relatively smaller,the essential feature of film evolution is similar to the case ofparticle-free flow.The reduction of the linear growth rate andthe postponement of film rupturing can be attributed to theincrement of the viscosity due to the presence of nanoparticles.On the other hand,when the intensity of the OS forcesbecomes stronger,the stepwise thinning of film can be observed which prevents the film from rupture.Numerical simulations indicate that this phenomenon is caused by the existence of a stable zone due to the oscillatory nature of thestructural forces.Another interesting finding is that the nonuniformity of the distribution of nanoparticle concentrationmight destabilize a spinodally stable film,and trigger the occurrence of film dewetting.     

Resonant Capture and Separatrix Crossing in Dual-Spin Spacecraft

We consider the rotational motion of a spacecraft composed of two bodies which are free to rotate relative to one another about a common shaft S. A motor on one of the bodies provides a small constant internal torque which influences the relative motion of the two bodies, and which may influence the orientation of their common shaft S. Resonant capture refers to the phenomenon that the spacecraft may end up in one of several possible orientations, including a nearly flat spin (transverse to S), in addition to the expected simple rotation about S.The method of averaging is used to treat the original equations of motion, and it is shown that the essential mathematical problem involves separatrix crossing in a problem with slowly moving separatrices. Energy changes represented by Melnikov integrals are used to supplement the averaged equations in the neighborhood of the heteroclinic motions. The method is used to predict which initial conditions lead to capture into each of three distinct capture regions. The asymptotic results are compared to those obtained by direct numerical integration of the equations of motion.     

生物力学与基因-献给周培源教授诞辰100周年

生物界包罗万象,其中有力的作用,所以有生物力学.自Galileo,Harvey, Boreli, Hooke, Euler,Young等创始以来,生物力学阐明了鸟飞鱼游,人体运动,血液循环,人工脏器等,对人世社会,有所贡献.生物力学的基础是质点力学,传统地用连续体力学的概念来简化.但近年做生物组织在应力的作用下改造的问题,引起了必须更改传统连续体力学的几个公理的问题.我们将仔细讨论这些公理,然后指出新公理存在的理由,是由于基因在细胞里的日常工作.基因不单主宰遗传,变异;并且忙着控制日常生活.不过,现在仅见其端倪.详细的情形,要等将来来阐发了.      

Modelling of the dyeing process of packed cotton threads using reactive dyes

The Method of Volume Averaging is used to model the process of dyeing textile threads on bobbins. This analysis allows one to upscale the relevant information at the micro-scale, composed of the textile fibres of the thread in contact with the dyeing bath fluid, to the macro-scale, consisting of the bobbins of threads inside the equipment. The final mathematical model consists of two equations, one for the fluid phase external to the thread and the other for the fluid phase internal to the thread. In order to solve the partial differential equations obtained in the mathematical model, the authors developed a computation code using the Method of Finite Volumes. This code utilized a system of generalized coordinates to facilitate application of the boundary conditions to different bobbin geometries. The numerical results for the kinetics of dyeing packed cotton threads with reactive dyes are compared to the experimental results obtained in Brazilian textile industries, leading to good agreement between theory and experiment. This demonstrates that the model developed in this paper is able to predict the operational conditions to be used in the textile industries, minimizing the consumption of dyes and other auxiliaries necessary for the dyeing process.     

Sloshing and energy dissipation in an egg: SPH simulations and experiments

Tall structures, such as towers and bridges, can oscillate at excessive magnitudes when subjected to wind and earthquake loads. Liquid sloshing absorbers can be used to suppress these excessive oscillations by tuning the frequency of the sloshing to the critical frequency of the structure. Sloshing absorbers are simple structures consisting of a partially full container of liquid with a free surface. Tuning ensures that significant amounts of harmful energy can be extracted from the structure to the sloshing liquid. However, there needs to be a rapid means of dissipating this energy to avoid its returning back to the structure (then back to the liquid periodically).A hen׳s egg seems to have evolved to efficiently dissipate energy to protect its embryo using sloshing of its liquid content. Hence, the potential to implement the egg׳s unique properties as a sloshing absorber for structural control, is the main focus of this study. Numerical simulations, using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), and experimental comparisons are presented in this paper. One objective is to demonstrate the ability of SPH to simulate complex free surface behaviour in three dimensions. Such a tool is then useful to identify different dissipation modes. Effects of fill volume and viscosity on the rate of dissipation, are also investigated.     

Electro-osmotic pore pressures in soil due to an alternating electrical field

Pore pressure development in a soil specimen due to electro-osmosis under alternating current conditions is examined theoretically. Solutions to the governing equation are derived for one-dimensional flow with boundary conditions corresponding to an impervious (conventional no-flow boundary), a partially drained boundary, and a partially drained boundary with an intervening permeable zone between the boundary and the soil. These latter two boundary conditions can arise from details of pore pressure measuring systems at the specimen boundaries during laboratory experiments. An analysis of the solutions indicates that for a perfect no-flow boundary, excess pore pressures measured at an electrode consist of a steady state and rapidly-decaying transient response. The pore pressures exhibit a 45 degree phase shift relative to the applied electric current. The effect of the partially drained boundary is to reduce the peak to peak amplitude of the pore pressure and to increase the phase shift to as much as 90 degrees depending on the compressibility of the pore pressure measuring system. The effect of the impeded and partially drained boundary is to further reduce the amplitude of the pore pressures and to increase the phase shift to as much as 180 degrees depending on the relative permeability of the impeded boundary.     

Interpolation-based reduced-order modelling for steady transonic flows via manifold learning

This paper presents a parametric reduced-order model (ROM) based on manifold learning (ML) for use in steady transonic aerodynamic applications. The main objective of this work is to derive an efficient ROM that exploits the low-dimensional nonlinear solution manifold to ensure an improved treatment of the nonlinearities involved in varying the inflow conditions to obtain an accurate prediction of shocks. The reduced-order representation of the data is derived using the Isomap ML method, which is applied to a set of sampled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data. In order to develop a ROM that has the ability to predict approximate CFD solutions at untried parameter combinations, Isomap is coupled with an interpolation method to capture the variations in parameters like the angle of attack or the Mach number. Furthermore, an approximate local inverse mapping from the reduced-order representation to the full CFD solution space is introduced. The proposed ROM, called Isomap+I, is applied to the two-dimensional NACA 64A010 airfoil and to the 3D LANN wing. The results are compared to those obtained by proper orthogonal decomposition plus interpolation (POD+I) and to the full-order CFD model.     

基于振动监测的静载荷滑动轴承接触摩擦故障诊断实验研究

采用静载荷滑动轴承试验台模拟轴颈-轴承从液体润滑状态逐步向干摩擦状态过渡时的接触摩擦故障的发生和发展过程,进而利用振动信号诊断滑动轴承的接触摩擦故障;通过对特征参数进行归一化处理得到无量纲特征参数,进而通过无量纲特征参数的适当数学组合得到无量纲诊断准则,并探讨了无量纲诊断准则的适用性.结果表明:利用所得到的无量纲诊断准则进行轴颈-轴承接触摩擦故障诊断时无须建立用于模式识别的标准模,可实现快捷方便的故障诊断;无量纲诊断准则对工况不敏感,而对故障更敏感,适用于可变工况下滑动轴承的故障诊断,且诊断成本较低.     

A study of sloshing absorber geometry for structural control with SPH

A liquid sloshing absorber consists of a container, partially filled with liquid. The absorber is attached to the structure to be controlled, and relies on the structure's motion to excite the liquid. Consequently, a sloshing wave is produced at the liquid free-surface within the absorber, possessing energy dissipative qualities. The primary objective of this work is to numerically demonstrate the effect of a sloshing absorber's shape on its control performance. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is used to model fluid–structure interaction of the structure/sloshing absorber system in two dimensions. The structure to be controlled is a lightly damped single degree-of-freedom structure. The structure is subjected to a transient excitation and then allowed to respond dynamically, coming to rest either due to its own damping alone or with the added control of the sloshing absorber. It is identified that the control performance of the conventionally used rectangular container geometry can be improved by having inward-angled walls. This new arrangement is robust, and of significant advantage in situations when the external disturbance is of uncertain magnitude.     

椭圆截面战斗部爆轰驱动壳体的断裂及毁伤特性

为研究椭圆截面战斗部爆轰驱动下壳体破片的形成机制和毁伤特性,设计了5种装药质量和壳体质量比相同而短长轴比不同的战斗部,开展了静爆威力试验,获得了椭圆截面战斗部破片径向速度分布规律,并结合细观观测方法分析了爆轰驱动下壳体断裂过程及破片损伤特性,通过测量破片对Q235钢板的侵彻开坑参数,量化了椭圆截面战斗部破片的侵彻毁伤能力。研究结果表明：椭圆截面战斗部破片速度由短轴至长轴方向呈对数趋势增长,相较于圆形截面战斗部存在明显的速度增益,短长轴比为0.40时,增益达到83%;靠近长轴处,由于壳体受到滑移爆轰为主导的驱动作用,壳体内部环向拉应力导致破片内表面出现拉伸裂纹,随着短长轴比增大,破片表面裂纹逐渐消失,而在战斗部短轴处,散心爆轰占据主导地位,壳体主要受到径向压应力作用,并未出现裂纹损伤;受端面稀疏波影响,战斗部轴向最大毁伤威力出现在距离非起爆端1/4处,而在战斗部径向方向,短长轴比为0.40时,短轴毁伤威力达到长轴的1.83倍,且该差异随着短长轴比增大逐渐减小。

     

对理论力学课程改革的期盼

本文根据培养工程科学家和研究工程师的需求,对理论力学课程提出若干改革建议。主要内容包括：如何面向工程需求改善教学内容,如何适应时代发展更新教材,如何引导学生提升学术品位,如何帮助学生拓展学术视野。在每个建议中,均给出了具体措施。