Spray Freeze-drying – The Process of Choice for Low Water Soluble Drugs?

Most of the novel highly potent drugs, developed on the basis of modern molecular medicine, taking into account cell surface recognition techniques, show poor water solubility. A chemical modification of the drug substance enhancing the solubility often decreases the pharmacological activity. Thus, as an alternative an increase of the solubility can be obtained by the reduction of the size of the drug particles. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to obtain micro or nanosized drug particles by classical or more advanced crystallization using supercritical gases or by milling techniques. In addition, nanosized particles are often not physically stable and need to be stabilized in an appropriate matrix. Thus, it may be of interest to manufacture directly nanosized drug particles stabilized in an inert hydrophilic matrix, i.e. nanostructured and nanocomposite systems. Solid solutions and solid dispersions represent nanostructured and nanocomposite systems. In this context, the use of the vacuum-fluidized-bed technique for the spray-drying of a low water soluble drug cosolubilized with a hydrophilic excipient in a polar organic solvent is discussed. In order to avoid the use of organic solvents, a special spray-freeze-drying technique working at atmospheric pressure is presented. This process is very suitable for temperature and otherwise sensitive drugs such as pharmaproteins.     

BEPCII直线加速器相控系统设计研究

为了补偿由于各种因素引起的微波相位漂移,BEPCII直线加速器需要建立微波相位反馈控制系统.能量最大法将用来确定每台功率源的最佳相位.沿直线加速器速调管长廊铺设相位稳定同轴线提供相位参考.现在已经完成了关键部件,如PAD单元、IfA 单元的开发.搭建了相控最小系统对系统进行了验证.     

Fractional Brownian Heavy Traffic Approximations of Multiclass Feedforward Queueing Networks

We consider multiclass feedforward queueing networks under first in first out and priority service disciplines driven by long-range dependent arrival and service time processes. We show that in critical loading the normalized workload, queue length and sojourn time processes can converge to a multi-dimensional reflected fractional Brownian motion. This weak heavy traffic approximation is deduced from a deterministic pathwise approximation of the network behavior close to constant critical load in terms of the solution of a Skorokhod problem. Since we model the doubly infinite time interval, our results directly cover the stationary case.AMS subject classification: primary 90B15, secondary 60K25, 68M20     

Robust Speed Control of a Low Damped Electromechanical System Based on CRONE Control: Application to a Four Mass Experimental Test Bench

Robust speed control of a low damped electromechanical system with backlash is studied, controlled load angular speed being not measured. The proposed control strategy combines a Luenberger observer (load angular speed and load torque disturbance estimations) and a robust CRONE controller. The observer provides estimation of the load angular speed and of the disturbance torque applied on the load. Through the computation of only three independent parameters (as many as a PID controller), the CRONE controller permits to ensure the robust speed control of the load in spite of plant parametric variations and speed observation errors. The proposed control strategy is applied to a four mass experimental test bench.     

A high‐resolution scheme for low Mach number flows

A method for computing low Mach number flows using high‐resolution interpolation and difference formulas, within the framework of the Marker and Cell (MAC) scheme, is presented. This increases the range of wavenumbers that are properly resolved on a given grid so that a sufficiently accurate solution can be obtained without extensive grid refinement. Results using this scheme are presented for three problems. The first is the two‐dimensional Taylor–Green flow which has a closed form solution. The second is the evolution of perturbations to constant‐density, plane channel flow for which linear stability solutions are known. The third is the oscillatory instability of a variable density plane jet. In this case, unless the sharp density gradients are resolved, the calculations would breakdown. Under‐resolved calculations gave solutions containing vortices which grew in place rather than being convected out. With the present scheme, regular oscillations of this instability were obtained and vortices were convected out regularly. Stable computations were possible over a wider range of sensitive parameters such as density ratio and co‐flow velocity ratio. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.     

Desorption behavior of a surfactant in a linear low‐density polyethylene blend at elevated temperatures

The desorption behavior of a surfactant in a linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE) blend at elevated temperatures of 50, 70, and 80 °C was studied with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The composition of the LLDPE blend was 70:30 LLDPE/low‐density polyethylene. Three different specimens (II, III, and IV) were prepared with various compositions of a small molecular penetrant, sorbitan palmitate (SPAN‐40), and a migration controller, poly(ethylene acrylic acid) (EAA), in the LLDPE blend. The calculated diffusion coefficient (D) of SPAN‐40 in specimens II, III, and IV, between 50 and 80 °C, varied from 1.74 × 10^?11 to 6.79 × 10^?11 cm²/s, from 1.10 × 10^?11 to 5.75 × 10^?11 cm²/s, and from 0.58 × 10^?11 to 4.75 × 10^?11 cm²/s, respectively. In addition, the calculated activation energies (E_D) of specimens II, III, and IV, from the plotting of ln D versus 1/T between 50 and 80 °C, were 42.9, 52.7, and 65.6 kJ/mol, respectively. These values were different from those obtained between 25 and 50 °C and were believed to have been influenced by the interference of Tinuvin (a UV stabilizer) at elevated temperatures higher than 50 °C. Although the desorption rate of SPAN‐40 increased with the temperature and decreased with the EAA content, the observed spectral behavior did not depend on the temperature and time. For all specimens stored over 50 °C, the peak at 1739 cm^?1 decreased in a few days and subsequently increased with a peak shift toward 1730 cm^?1. This arose from the carbonyl stretching vibration of Tinuvin, possibly because of oxidation or degradation at elevated temperatures. In addition, the incorporation of EAA into the LLDPE blend suppressed the desorption rate of SPAN‐40 and retarded the appearance of the 1730 cm^?1 peak. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1114–1126, 2004     

Effects of poly[styrene‐b‐(ethylene‐co‐butylene)‐b‐styrene] on the charge distributions of low‐density polyethylene/polystyrene blends

The effect of the triblock copolymer poly[styrene‐b‐(ethylene‐co‐butylene)‐b‐styrene] (SEBS) on the formation of the space charge of immiscible low‐density polyethylene (LDPE)/polystyrene (PS) blends was investigated. Blends of 70/30 (wt %) LDPE/PS were prepared through melt blending in an internal mixer at a blend temperature of 220 °C. The amount of charge that accumulated in the 70% LDPE/30% PS blends decreased when the SEBS content increased up to 10 wt %. For compatibilized and uncompatibilized blends, no significant change in the degree of crystallinity of LDPE in the blends was observed, and so the effect of crystallization on the space charge distribution could be excluded. Morphological observations showed that the addition of SEBS resulted in a domain size reduction of the dispersed PS phase and better interfacial adhesion between the LDPE and PS phases. The location of SEBS at a domain interface enabled charges to migrate from one phase to the other via the domain interface and, therefore, resulted in a significant decrease in the amount of space charge for the LDPE/PS blends with SEBS. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 2813–2820, 2004     

A novel specimen for investigating the mechanical behavior of elastomers under multiaxial loading conditions

In this paper we describe the design and manufacture of an axial-torsion test specimen, and provide relationships needed when conducting stress-strain characterization experiments with the specimen. The specimen is a short hollow cylinder of rubber bonded between two steel mounting rings, in which simultaneous axial and shear strains are produced via independently controlled axial and twist displacements. We present calculations for the strain-displacement and stress-load relationships, and strain energy density. These relationships have been established and validated via a combination of analytical and experimental techniques, and finite element analysis. We have investigated the extent and effects of strain and stress field non-uniformity in the test specimen. The specimen design is sufficiently simple that a closed-form expression for the strain-displacement relationship has been successfully developed.     

An experimental study of dynamic tensile properties of glass fiber at low-temperatures

Tensile impact experiments of EC8.0−24×7 glass fiber bundles at different low temperaturesT(14°C, −40°C and −10°C) and strain rates ɛ were carried out, and complete stress-strain curves were obtained. Within the range of the experiment temperatures and strain rates, it is found that the initial modulusE, the ultimate strength σ_max and the unstable strain ɛ _b of the glass fiber bundles all increase with ɛ at an identicalT. At an identical ɛ, with the decrease ofT, E and σ_max increase; but ɛ _b increases when 10°C>T>−40°C and decreases when −40°C>T>−100°C. The strain-rate- and temperature-dependent bimodal Weibull statistical constitutive theory was adopted for the statistical analysis of the experimental results, and the Weibull parameters of single fiber were obtained. The results show that the bimodal Weibull distribution function is suitable to represent the strength distribution of the glass fiber at low temperature and different strain rates. The differences in the mechanical properties between EC8.0−24×7 and EC5.5−12 ×14 glass fiber bundles were also discussed. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 19772058).     

Review of chiral perturbation theory

A review of chiral perturbation theory and recent developments on the comparison of its predictions with experiment is presented. Some interesting topics with scope for further elaboration are touched upon.