Stokes flow past a porous spheroid embedded in another porous medium

A study is made with an analysis of an incompressible viscous fluid flow past a slightly deformed porous sphere embedded in another porous medium. The Brinkman equations for the flow inside and outside the deformed porous sphere in their stream function formulations are used. Explicit expressions are investigated for both the inside and outside flow fields to the first order in small parameter characterizing the deformation. The flow through the porous oblate spheroid embedded in another porous medium is considered as the particular example of the deformed porous sphere embedded in another porous medium. The drag experienced by porous oblate spheroid in another porous medium is also evaluated. The dependence of drag coefficient and dimensionless shearing stress on the permeability parameter, viscosity ratio and deformation parameter for the porous oblate spheroid is presented graphically and discussed. Previous well-known results are then also deduced from the present analysis.     

High-temperature oxidation studies of cold-sprayed Ni-20Cr and Ni-50Cr coatings on SAE 213-T22 boiler steel

The high-temperature oxidation behavior of cold-sprayed Ni-20Cr and Ni-50Cr coatings on SAE 213-T22 boiler steel has been investigated at 900 °C in air under cyclic heating and cooling conditions for 50 cycles. The kinetics of oxidation of coated and bare boiler steel has been established with the help of weight change measurements. It was observed that all the coated and bare steels obeyed parabolic rate law of oxidation. X-ray diffraction, FE-SEM/EDAX and X-ray mapping techniques were used to analyse the oxidation products of the coated and uncoated boiler steel. The uncoated steel suffered corrosion in the form of intense spalling and peeling of its oxide scale, which was perhaps due to the formation of unprotective Fe₂O₃ oxide scale. Both the coatings showed better resistance to the air oxidation as compared to the uncoated steel. The Ni-50Cr coating was found to be more protective than the Ni-20Cr-coated steel. The formation of oxides and spinels of nickel and chromium may be contributing to the development of air oxidation resistance in the coatings.     

Small-angle neutron scattering studies on water soluble complexes of poly(ethylene glycol)-based cationic random copolymer and SDS

The interaction of cationic random copolymers of methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) monomethacrylate and (3-(methacryloylamino)propyl) trimethylammonium chloride with oppositely charged surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulphate, and the influence of surfactant association on the polymer conformation have been investigated by small-angle neutron scattering. SANS data showed a positive indication of the formation of RCPSDS complexes. Even though the complete structure of the polyion complexes could not be ascertained, the results obtained give us the information on the local structure in these polymer-surfactant systems. The data were analysed using the log-normal distribution of the polydispersed spherical aggregate model for the local structure in these complexes. For all the systems the median radius and the polydispersity were found to be in the range of 20 ± 2 Å and 0.6 ± 0.05, respectively.     

Cumulative yields of short-lived xenon isotopes in the spontaneous fission of252Cf

Cumulative yields of short-lived xenon isotopes^137,138,139Xe have been determined in the spontaneous fission of²⁵²Cf, using a fast radiochemical separation method followed by gamma spectrometry. Xenon-137 yield is reported for the first time. The measured cumulative yields are converted to chain yields assuming normal charge distribution systematics for comparision with the literature data.     

Modifying metal nanoparticle placement on carbon supports using an aerosol-based process, with application to the environmental remediation of chlorinated hydrocarbons

A facile aerosol-based process (ABP) is developed to vary the placement of iron nanoparticles on the external surface of carbon microspheres or within the interior. This is accomplished through the competitive mechanisms of sucrose carbonization and the precipitation of soluble iron salts, in an aerosol droplet passing through a high temperature heating zone. At lower aerosolization temperatures, carbonization occurs first leading to iron salt precipitation on the external surface, while at higher temperatures interior placement occurs through concurrent iron salt precipitation and sucrose carbonization. The resulting composites are highly conducive to the reductive dechlorination of compounds such as trichloroethylene (TCE) as the carbon support is a strong adsorbent, and zerovalent iron effectively reduces TCE to innocuous gases such as ethane. Since both iron and carbon are widely used catalysts and catalyst supports, the simple process of modifying iron placement has significant potential applications in heterogeneous catalysis.     

Enhancement of Anti-Tumoral Properties of Paclitaxel Nano-Crystals by Conjugation of Folic Acid to Pluronic F127: Formulation Optimization,In Vitro and In Vivo Study

A brand-new nano-crystal (NC) version of the hydrophobic drug Paclitaxel (PT) were formulated for cancer treatment. A stable NC formulation for the administration of PT was created using the triblock co-polymer Pluronic F127. To achieve maximum entrapment effectiveness and minimal particle size, the formulation was improved using the central composite design by considering agitation speed and vacuum pressure at five levels (coded as +1.414, +1, 0, −1, and −1.414). According to the Design Expert software’s predictions, 13 runs were created and evaluated for the chosen responses. The formulation prepared with an agitation speed of 1260 RPM and a vacuum pressure of 77.53 mbar can meet the requirements of the ideal formulation in order to achieve 142.56 nm of PS and 75.18% EE, according to the level of desirability (D = 0.959). Folic acid was conjugated to Pluronic F127 to create folate receptor-targeted NC. The drug release profile of the nano-crystals in vitro demonstrated sustained release over an extended period. Folate receptor (FR)-targeted NC (O-PT-NC-Folate) has also been prepared by conjugating folic acid to Pluronic F127. MTT test is used to validate the targeting efficacy on the FR-positive human oral cancer cell line (KB). At pharmacologically relevant concentrations, the PT nano-crystal formulation did not cause hemolysis. Compared to non-targeted NC of PT, the O-PT-NC-Folate showed a comparable but more sustained anti-cancer effect, according to an in vivo anti-tumor investigation in NCI/ADR-RES cell lines. The remarkable anti-tumor effectiveness, minimal toxicity, and simplicity of scale-up manufacturing of the NC formulations indicate their potential for clinical development. Other hydrophobic medications that are formulated into nano-systems for improved therapy may benefit from the formulation approach.     

Density of near-extreme events

We provide a quantitative analysis of the phenomenon of crowding of near-extreme events by computing exactly the density of states (DOS) near the maximum of a set of independent and identically distributed random variables. We show that the mean DOS converges to three different limiting forms depending on whether the tail of the distribution of the random variables decays slower than pure exponential, faster than pure exponential, or as a pure exponential function. We argue that some of these results would remain valid even for certain correlated cases and verify it for power-law correlated stationary Gaussian sequences. Satisfactory agreement is found between the near-maximum crowding in the summer temperature reconstruction data of western Siberia and the theoretical prediction.