Rheological and diffusion properties of a dextran-con A polymer in the presence of Insulin and Magnesium

Previous work carried out in our laboratories has focused on the formation and investigation of a dextran and concanavalin A (con A) based gel, which has the ability to alter its conformational structure in the presence and absence of free and terminal glucoses such that a gel–sol phase transition occurs. Here we report the diffusion and rheological investigations in to the effects of the addition of insulin and varyingconcentrations of magnesium chloride hexahydrate (Mg₂Cl₂6H₂O) at 20 and 37 °C. Rheological examination of glucose-sensitive (dextran-con A) gels were conducted using a cone and plate viscometer used in continual rotation and oscillatory modes. The results are interpreted in terms of the structure of the gel network and suggest rheological assessment provides an effective method of assessing the properties of gel systems. The subsequent testing of such formulations in in-vitro diffusion experiments revealed a reduction in the rate of diffusivity in the insulin marker, poly R-478 dye. The performance of this self-regulating drug delivery system has been examined and the addition of insulin and magnesium chloride may alter the way in which the gel operates as a drug delivery device and in the delivery of insulin. This may have implications for other ligands.     

Native ethylene glycol in wine: Application of a dead volume free,very fast “deans heart-cut” system on-line with multi-chromatography

Data about the existence of native HO? CH₂? CH₂? OH (MEG) in natural wines and champagne has led to delicate questions because of legal decisions already made to declare wine or champagne illegal for sale if the MEG concentrations found are above 10 mg/liter. Action has been taken because of the DEG (diethylene glycol) disaster in European wines of 1985…86. An incorrect legal decision was made due to the belief that MEG cannot be produced biochemically by grape vines. A further reason may be lack of correct data on native MEG trace concentrations, as a result of the special behavior of this diol. As first member of a homologous series whose higher members (C₄) are normally found in all wines at quite high concentration levels, MEG shows extremely adsorptive behavior. The solution of the chromatographic problems is summarized in this paper. MEG concentrations in Riesling as example are in the range of 2 to 6 mg/liter and can easily be increased by biotechnological steps to a level of around 10 to 60 mg/liter. This is again due to the specific adsorptive behavior of MEG, which can be enriched on filter surfaces and displaced when the wine acidity changes with changing types. In order to control and guarantee the qualitative and quantitative results of MEG analyses we used a combination of Deans heart cutting on-line with Multi-Chromatography. It was easy to produce false data by many otherwise useful single column or two-dimensional separation processes, etc.     

Modelling and optimal control of coupled structural acoustic systems with piezoelectric elements

We construct a model of a shell with piezoelectric elements (patches) that take into account the mutual influence of deformations and electric fields. Coupled problems for the shell with piezoelectric patches and an acoustic field, are studied and results on the existence and the uniqueness are obtained. For this system we consider an optimal control problem on noise attenuation and obtain results on the existence, the uniqueness, necessary and sufficient conditions of optimality. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Propagation of singularities in Cauchy problems for quasilinear thermoelastic systems in three space variables

By using microlocal analysis, the propagation of weak singularities in Cauchy problems for quasilinear thermoelastic systems in three space variables are investigated. First, paradifferential operators are employed to decouple the quasilinear thermoelastic systems. Second, by investigating the decoupled hyperbolic-parabolic systems and using the classical bootstrap argument, the property of finite propagation speeds of singularities in Cauchy problems for the quasilinear thermoelastic systems is obtained. Finally, it is shown that the microlocal weak singularities for Cauchy problems of the thermoelastic systems are propagated along the null bicharacteristics of the hyperbolic operators.     

超分子有机薄膜

利用超分子有机薄膜技术能制成新的传感分子电子器件、光学器件和生物分子器件等，受到跨学科高技术研究领域的重视。本文描述了超分子有机薄膜的制备方法以及在各应用领域的研究状况。重点介绍了我们研究组在近20年工作中，利用LB膜技术，在光电器件、气体传感技术和光学非线性，特别是在生物传感技术方面的研究成果。按照生物体系提供的信息，模拟合成功能分子，建造有组织的分子组装体，以便用来研究依赖于分子排列的生物物理化学效应。     

Synthesis and characterization of wholly aromatic poly(azomethine)s containing donor–acceptor triphenylamine moieties

N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐4′,4″‐bisformyl‐diphenylamine was synthesized from N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐diphenylamine by the Vilsmeier‐Haack reaction. Soluble aromatic poly(azomethine)s (PAMs) were prepared by the solution polycondensation of N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐4′,4″‐bisformyl‐diphenylamine and aromatic diamine in N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (NMP) at room temperature under reduced pressure. All the PAMs are highly soluble in various organic solvents, such as N,N‐dimethylacetamide (DMAc), chloroform (CHCl₃), and tetrahydrofuran (THF). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated that these PAMs had glass‐transition temperatures (T_gs) in the range of 170–230 °C, and a 10% weight‐loss temperatures in excess of 490 °C with char yield at 800 °C in nitrogen higher than 60%. These PAMs in NMP solution showed UV‐Vis charge‐transfer (CT) absorption at 405–421 nm and photoluminescence peaks around 462–466 nm with fluorescence quantum efficiency (Φ_F) 0.10–0.99%. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of these PAMs can be determined from cyclic voltammograms as 4.86–5.43 and 3.31–3.34 eV, respectively. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 4921–4932, 2007     

The modified characteristic finite difference fractional steps method for the coupled system of fluid dynamics in porous media and its analysis

For the coupled system of multilayer fluid dynamics in porous media, the modified characteristic finite difference fractional steps method applicable to parallel arithmetic is put forward and two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional schemes are used to form a complete set. Some techniques, such as calculus of variations, energy method, piecewise biquadratic interpolation, multiplicative commutation rule of difference operators, decomposition of high order difference operators and prior estimates are adopted. Optimal order estimates in L² norm are derived to determine the error in the approximate solution. This method has already been applied to the numerical simulation of multilayer fluid dynamics in porous media. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 19: 665–681, 2003.     

A Tandem Queue with Coupled Processors: Computational Issues

In Resing and Örmeci [16] it is shown that the two-stage tandem queue with coupled processors can be solved using the theory of boundary value problems. In this paper we consider the issues that arise when calculating performance measures like the mean queue length and the fraction of time a station is empty. It is assumed that jobs arrive at the first station according to a Poisson process and require service at both stations before leaving the system. The amount of work that a job requires at each of the stations is an independent, exponentially distributed random variable. When both stations are nonempty, the total service capacity is shared among the stations according to fixed proportions. When one of the stations becomes empty, the total service capacity is given to the nonempty station. We study the two-dimensional Markov process representing the numbers of jobs at the two stations. The problem of finding the generating function of the stationary distribution can be reduced to two different Riemann-Hilbert boundary value problems, where both problems yield a complete analytical solution. We discuss the similarities and differences between the two problems, and relate them to the computational aspects of obtaining performance measures.     

Thermal Analysis in Examination of Reduction of Blast Furnace Pellets

This paper presents applications of thermal analysis to observe the course of reduction of acidic pellets, metallurgical substances whose reducibility and strength are basic parameters of use in blast furnace processes. Both parameters depend on the mineral composition of the samples. The investigations included determination of the chemical and phase compositions of the initial samples and reduction products. Research was conducted on acidic pellets from Połtawa (Poland), applied in the T. Sendzimir Steelworks (Poland), in comparison with pellets from Brazil, Canada and Lebedyn (Russia). This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.