Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polyampholyte acrylic latexes for tablet coating applications

Polyampholyte latexes can exist within a certain pH range as low-viscosity aqueous dispersions, while upon a pH shift to the vicinity of the isoelectric point they undergo ionic coacervation. Three classes of coacervation latexes were synthesized and evaluated for their suitability for use in tablet coating applications. Pharmaceutical tablet coatings are commonly based on hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, poly(vinyl alcohol), and acrylic polymers. Because of the high viscosity of their aqueous solutions, and to the consequent required low concentrations of the tablet coating polymers in the coating solutions to enable sufficiently low viscosity for effective spray application, the current commercial pharmaceutical tablet coating technology requires the removal of large amounts of water during the manufacturing process. In this work, films prepared from high-solids, low-viscosity coacervated acrylic latexes showed good hardness, very low tackiness, an excellent combination of optical properties, and very low water vapor permeability. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40049.
Simulation of Instrument Panels Production Process: Modelling a Digital Twin of the Production System and Improving the System Through DES

International Automotive Components (IAC) has always kept up with the advanced technologies and now aspires to simulate the production system expecting ways to improve it. A production system is very complicated due to several governing factors and planning improvement in the production is a meticulous process. With simulation, the engineers and the managers get a better picture of how a change in the production is going to affect the system. The purpose of this thesis is to help the company improve its production with the help of simulation and answer some of the "what if" questions pondered by the management. The thesis work is confined to company-specific objectives and delivers the results and reasons from the simulation. This thesis develops a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model for production-related investigations and deriving conclusions to the ideas. The DES model is a digital twin of the factory, built using AutoMod following Jerry Bank’s methodology. AutoStat is used to simulate a scenario for several iterations considering many events within the system. Results of this study are analyzed and provided in terms of the throughput time of the products and the utilization of resources. Detecting bottlenecks and suggesting improvements has been an important activity. A general remark from the thesis is that any change in the production facility is escalated and easily comprehended using a DES tool and simulation is therefore viewed to be a very useful tool to improve a production facility.
Composite Scaffolds for Orthopaedic Regenerative Medicine

The goal of tissue engineering is to synthesise substitutes that mimic the natural environment to help guide the growth of new functional biological tissue in vitro or in vivo. Tissue engineering relies heavily on the use of porous 3D scaffolds to provide a supportive environment for the regeneration of tissues and organs, acting primarily as a template for de novo tissue formation. However, new advances in fabrication technologies and composite materials are facilitating the rapid development of many novel composites that are beginning to play a more active role in directing the regenerative process. It has been long recognised that the combination of two or more characteristically-distinct materials can often yield composite materials that possess many of the constituent materials mechanical and biological advantages with few of their disadvantages. When applied to regenerative medicine, these new composite materials are beginning to show real potential as bioactive, biodegradable substitute materials, capable of facilitating rapid orthopaedic tissue regeneration, while degrading in parallel with the advancing tissue repair process. These idealised tissue regenerative aids could finally offer clinicians the potential to completely regenerate damaged orthopaedic tissue, leaving no evidence that the tissue was ever damaged in the first instance. At a simplistic level, biological tissues consist of cells, signalling mechanisms and extracellular matrix (ECM). Tissue engineering technologies are based on this biological triad and consist of (i) the scaffold that holds the cells together to create the tissue’s physical form, (ii) the cells that create the tissue, and (iii) the biological signalling mechanisms (such as growth factors or bioreactors) that direct the cells to express the desired tissue phenotype (Figure 1). In native tissues, cells are held within an ECM which guides development and directs regeneration of the tissue. The ECM serves to organise cells in space and provides them with environmental signals to direct cellular behaviour. Consequently, the ECM is responsible for two of the three components in this tissue engineering triad, highlighting the critical role that this extracellular environment plays on tissue formation. What is becoming increasingly evident is that the combination of biomaterials into novel composite scaffolds can result in an engineered biomimicry of this extracellular environment that provide all the environmental cues to promote rapid development of de novo tissue. Consequently, these composites can be designed to act not only as carriers and supporting structures for the associated cells but to play a more active role in the initiation and development of the repair tissue.
Preparation of CuFe2O4/SiO2 nanocomposite by the sol-gel method

This work aims at characterizing the phase relations in the CuFe2O4/SiO2 system. Samples were prepared by the sol-gel method. Final heat treatment of the samples was carried out at temperatures in the range of 800–1100 °C. Final products were characterized by HR TEM, X-ray diffraction, magnetic measurements, and Mossbauer spectroscopy. HR TEM revealed nanocrystals with sizes of 7–130 nm, depending on the heat treatment temperature. The spinel structure of CuFe2O4 in the amorphous silica matrix proved to be stable up to 1100 °C without decomposition to copper silicate and iron (III) oxide. At the same time, the amorphous silica matrix recrystallized to cristobalite at 1100 °C.
Improving the resolution of diffraction patterns from many low resolution recordings

IMPROVING THE RESOLUTION OF DIFFRACTION PATTERNS FROM MANY LOW RESOLUTION RECORDINGS Veysel Yücesoy M.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Levent Onural September 2010 Holography attempts to record and reconstruct wave fields. The resolution limitation of the recording equipments causes some problems in the reconstruction process. An automatic method for the registration and stitching of low resolution diffraction patterns to form a higher resolution one is proposed. There is no prior knowledge about the 3D position of the object in the recordings and it is assumed that there is only one particle in the object field. The method uses Wigner transform, Canny edge detection and Hough transform to register the patterns, and some additional iterative methods depending on the local variance of the reconstructed patterns to stitch them. The performance of the overall system is evaluated against object radius, noise in the original pattern, recording noise and presence of multiple particles in the object field by computer simulations.
Effect of Background Gas on the Current Emitted from Taylor Cones

The current-flow rate characteristics I(Q) of electrified liquid cone jets of highly conductive liquids (K> 10-2 S/m) are shown to be insensitive to the nature (air, CO2, SF6) and pressure (130 Torr < p < 1500 Torr) of the surrounding gas in the domain of values in which the cone is stable. Yet the mobility of the droplets produced by the breakup of the emitted jet depends considerably on gas pressure. Furthermore, the width of the spray they form increases with gas pressure. We conclude that the I(Q) curve is unaffected by space charge phenomena. This is consistent with earlier evidence indicating that the jet current is fixed entirely inside the meniscus. A cone jet of given flow rate Q is thus an ideal current generator, practically insensitive to the distribution of free charge in the gas or the surrounding electrodes. The minimum flow rate for stability of the cone, Qmin , is also found to be independent of gas pressure.
Metal-based chemosensors for amino acids, peptides, and nucleotides

An organometallic 4d transition metal complex [Cp*RhCl2]2, together with commercially available dyes, was used to construct indicator displacement assays (IDAs) for the detection of peptides, amino acids, and nucleotides. The combination of the Cp*Rh complex with the dye azophloxine was found to form a chemosensing ensemble for the sequence-selective detection of histidine- and methionine-containing peptides in water at neutral pH. A strong interaction of the rhodium complex with peptides bearing histidine or methionine residue in the position 1 or 2 allowed to detect these peptides down to a concentration of 0.3 µM. The same organometallic complex and three commercially available dyes were employed to compose an array of IDA chemosensors for the detection of natural amino acids. We found that the variation of the pH can effectively be used to modulate the selectivity of an IDA sensor. An excellent discrimination of 20 amino acids was achieved. The combination of [Cp*RhCl2]2 with the dyes gallocyanine, evans blue, and mordant yellow 10 forms a multicomponent indicator displacement assay (MIDA), which can be used to sense low millimolar concentrations of nucleotides and the pyrophosphate anion in buffered aqueous solution. Moreover, the MIDA allows to simultaneously determine the concentrations of adenosine triphosphate and pyrophosphate/cyclic adenosine monophosphate with a single UV-Vis measurement. In the second part of our work we investigated whether dynamic combinatorial libraries (DCLs) can be used for sensing purposes. We found that the dyes arsenazo I, methylcalcein blue, and glycine cresol red, in combination with the metal salts CuCl2 and NiCl2, form a DCL of differently colored metal-dye complexes. The addition of an analyte able to interact with a member(s) of such a library, results in a re-equilibraion easily detectable by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Using dipeptides as analytes we demonstrated that this way of sensing is very effective – even closely related peptides such as regio- (Ala-Phe vs. Phe-Ala) and stereo- (Phe-Ala vs. D-Phe-Ala) isomers can easily be discriminated. Additionally, we found that the identity of the best sensor depends on the problem to be addressed.
Rates of Selenium Volatilization among Crop Species

The rate of Se volatilization per plant was measured for 15 crop species grown hydroponically (for 18–48 d depending on the species) in growth chambers. Selenium was supplied as 20 micromolar sodium selenate in 0.25 strength Hoagland's solution. Selenium volatilization was determined by enclosing plants in a Plexiglas plant chamber and trapping the volatile Se emissions in alkaline peroxide traps. The results show that rice (Oryza sativa L.), broccoli (Brassica oleracea botrytis L.), and cabbage (Brassica oleracea capitata L.) volatilized Se at the fastest rates, i.e., 200 to 350 µg Se per m² leaf area per day (1500–2500 µg Se kg⁻¹ plant dry wt. d⁻¹). Carrot (Daucus carota L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), eggplant (Solanum melongena L.), and maize (Zea mays L.) had intermediate rates of 30 to 100 µg Se m⁻² d⁻¹ (300–750 µg Se kg⁻¹ d⁻¹). Sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.), bean (Phaseolus vulgaris spp.), lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), and onion (Allium cepa L.) had the lowest rates, i.e., less than 15 µg Se m⁻² d⁻¹ (<250 µg Se kg⁻¹ d⁻¹). Comparing all plant species, Se volatilization rate was found to be highly correlated with Se concentration in plant tissues; we suggest that the ability of plants to absorb Se may be an important factor contributing to high rates of Se volatilization. Supported by funds provided to the Univ. of California Salinity Drainage Task Force by the state of California.
Production yields of H(D) atoms in the reactions of N2(AΣu+3) with C2H2, C2H4, and their deuterated variants

The production yields of H(D) atoms in the reactions of N2(AΣu+3) with C2H2, C2H4, and their deuterated variants were determined. N2(AΣu+3) was produced by excitation transfer between Xe(6s[3∕2]1) and ground-state N2 followed by collisional relaxation. Xe(6s[3∕2]1) was produced by two-photon laser excitation of Xe(6p[1∕2]0) followed by concomitant amplified spontaneous emission. H(D) atoms were detected by using vacuum-ultraviolet laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). The H(D)-atom yields were evaluated from the LIF intensities and the overall rate constants for the quenching, which were determined from the temporal profiles of the NO tracer emission. The absolute yields were evaluated by assuming that the yield for NH3(ND3) is 0.9. Although no H∕D isotope effects were observed in the overall rate constants, there were isotope effects in the H(D)-atom yields. The H-atom yields for C2H2 and C2H4 were 0.52 and 0.30, respectively, while the D-atom yields for C2D2 and C2D4 were 0.33 and 0.13, respectively. The pr.
Optimization and validation of an RP-HPLC method for the estimation of 6-mercaptopurine in bulk and pharmaceutical formulations

A reverse phase HPLC method is described for the determination of 6-mercaptopurine in bulk and tablets. Chromatography was carried on a C18 column using a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.05 mol/L sodium acetate buffer (10:90 v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min-1 with detection at 324 nm. The retention time of the drug was 3.25 min. The detector response was linear in the concentration of 0.01-5 μg/mL. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 17 and 52 ng/mL respectively. The method was validated by determining its sensitivity, linearity, accuracy and precision. The proposed method is simple, economical, fast, accurate and precise and hence can be applied for routine quality control of mercaptopurine in bulk and tablets.
Modeling of SCR DeNOx Catalyst - Looking at the Impact of Substrate Attributes

The present work intends to examine the selective NOx reduction efficiency of a current commercial Titanium-Vanadium washcoated catalyst and to develop a transient numerical model capable of describing the SCR process while using a wide range of inlet conditions such as space velocity, oxygen concentrations, water concentration and NO 2 /NO ratio. The concentrations of different components (NO, NO 2 , N 2 O, NH 3 , H 2 O and HNO 3 ) were analyzed continuously by a FT-IR spectrometer. A temperature range from 150°C up to 650°C was examined and tests were carried out using a model exhaust gas comparable to the real diesel exhaust gas composition. There is a very good correlation between experimental and calculated results with the given chemical kinetics.
Kinetics and Model Building on Ultrasonic Extraction of Schisandrin From Fruit of Schisandra chinensis

The kinetics of the extraction schisandrin of Schisandra chinensis was investigated. Based on the assumption of a second-order mechanism for the extraction, a conventional extraction model and an ultrasonic extraction model were developed to predict the extraction rate constant, the extraction capacity, and the initial extraction rate with various temperatures and ultrasound powers. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The models of conventional extraction and an ultrasonic extraction based on the assumption of a second-order mechanism can interpret and give guidance to the leaching process of traditional Chinese medicine qualitatively and quantitatively. The three-dimensional predictive model not only helped to understand the process of ultrasonic extraction, control and optimize parameter of process, but also evaluate the capacity of leaching at all times and temperatures.
Intracavity second harmonic generation in quantum cascade lasers in the telecommunication range

We propose and theoretically study the performance of short-wavelength mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers integrated with resonant second-harmonic generation (SHG) cascade. We show the feasibility of SHG in the near infrared range 1.5-2 μm with nonlinear susceptibility of ~150 pm/V. Theoretical treatment takes into account the non-sphericity and the non-parabolicity of the conduction band within a modified energy-dependent effective mass approximation based on the 14 band kP model. This approximation is shown to coincide with the first conduction band calculated by the 30 band kP model up to 2.3 eV above the band edge. We demonstrate the possibility of modal phase matching in the InGaAs/AlAsSb/InP QC laser which yields the intracavity frequency conversion efficiency of the order of 0.2 mW/W2.
Ab initio SCF and force-field calculations on low-energy conformers of 2-acetylamino-2,N-dimethylpropanamide

The understanding of the conformational properties of α,α-disubstituted amino acids is related to the design of structural mimics for proteins. More specifically, 2-amino-2-methylpropanoic acid has been widely used in constructing helical peptide modules. In this paper, we report the results of ab initio SCF calculations with 3-21G, 6-31G* and 6-31G** basis sets on four low-energy conformations of 2-acetylamino-2,N-dimethylpropanamide. The results are used to assess the reliability of empirical potentials used in force-field methodologies. For this purpose, averaged multiple conformations' atomic point charges were determined with the 6-31 G* basis set. The results point to some important deficiencies in current force-fields. Thus, the relative energies of dipeptide conformations with excessive repulsive or excessive attractive interactions are not well described by some empirical potentials.
Probing Microstructure of Acetonitrile−Water Mixtures by Using Two-Dimensional Infrared Correlation Spectroscopy

Acetonitrile−water mixtures are a unique model system for implementing a new family of coherent two-dimensional (2D) vibrational spectroscopy−doubly vibrationally enhanced (DOVE) four wave mixing (FWM) spectroscopy for structure analysis of hydrogen-bonded systems. These mixtures often have a heterogeneous microstructure that consists of acetonitrile (CH3CN) or water clusters. There are two types of CH3CN environments in mixtures-free CH3CN species and hydrogen-bonded CH3CN species. To design new DOVE−FWM experiments and interpret DOVE−FWM spectra, it is crucial to have a complete structure information regarding this model system. In this work, we have used a highly sensitive spectroscopic method, 2D infrared (IR) correlation spectroscopy for probing structure information of the mixtures (a 50:50 mol % CH3CN−H2O solution, a 50:50 mol % CH3CN−D2O solution and a 38:62 mol % CH3CN−D2O solution) under temperature perturbation. In addition to two cross-peaks at 2253 and 2259 cm-1, corresponding to the C⋮N stre.
Use of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy to detect the changes in extra virgin olive oil by adulteration with soybean oil and high temperature heat treatment

Abstract The structural changes induced in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) by adulteration with soybean oil (SBO) and heat treatment at 185°C for 4 and 8 h were investigated using Attenuated Total Reflectance – Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Our results revealed that the band around 3006 cm–1 recorded shifts versus the percentage of adulterant. The changes in the absorbance at 3006 cm−1 (A3006) and in the ratio of the maximum heights of the bands at 3006 and 2925 cm−1 (A3006/A2925) were used to evaluate the EVOO adulteration. The regression analysis of A3006 and A3006/A2925 versus the percentage of adulterant was used to calculate the detection limits of adulteration. The time course of spectral changes showed that the oil heating caused notable modifications in the intensity of the absorption bands and induced no shifts in their exact position. The most relevant changes were reflected by conjugation and cis-trans isomerisation of double bonds, the formation of epoxides and widening of the band in the C=O region due to formation of secondary oxidation products. This study highlights that ATR-FTIR spectroscopy may be a promising means to differentiate among pure and adulterated oils and to study the thermooxidative processes in oils undergoing thermal stress. Graphical Abstract
Targeting EGFR and HER2 for Molecular Imaging of Cancer

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR, HER1, ErbB1) and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2, ErbB2) belong to the ErbB family of type I tyrosine kinases (TKs). This family of receptor TKs also includes another two closely related members HER3/ErbB3 and HER4/ErbB4. The general structure of these cell surface receptor proteins contains an extracellular ligand-binding domain, a hydrophobic transmembrane domain, an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain and a non-catalytic carboxyl terminal tail (Ferguson et al., 2000; Kari et al., 2003; Mitsudomi & Yatabe, 2010; Pines et al., 2010). Various ligands for EGFR, HER3 and HER4 have been identified, with EGF the most extensively characterized for its binding and activation of EGFR. These ErbB proteins are present in the plasma membrane as monomers. Upon ligand binding, the ErbB receptors can associate with each other to form different receptor dimers, which may be homodimers (e.g., EGFR-EGFR) or heterodimers (e.g., EGFR-HER2). The dimerization results in the activation of kinase activity and downstream signaling pathways, which often leads to cell proliferation and malignant tumor growth. HER2 is an exception, with no compatible ligand identified. However, it is the preferred heterodimerization partner for all other ErbB members (Mishani & Hagooly, 2009; Niu et al., 2008; Tzahar et al., 1996; Yarden & Sliwkowski, 2001).
Some Neuropharmacological Effects of the Crude Venom Extract of Conus musicus in Mice

This study reports some neuropharmacological effects of the crude venom extract of Conus musicus (family Conidae) in mice using various experimental models. The crude venom was found to significantly increase tail flick reaction time in mice. The effects of the venom on the central nervous system were studied by observing spontaneous motor activity, gross behaviour, rota-rod performance and potentiation of pentobarbitone sleeping time in mice. Preliminary acute toxicity evaluation was also carried out and the LD50 was found to be 460.23 μg/kg following intraperitoneal administration. At a dose of 200 μg/kg i.p., the extract produced a reduction in spontaneous motor activity, altered gross behavior and motor coordination and prolonged pentobarbitone-sleeping time. A liquid chromatography mass spectroscopic study has indicated the presence of ω-conotoxin in the crude venom extract. Keywords : Conus musicus , sedation, spontaneous motor activity, gross behavior, motor coordination East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 10 (2) 2007: pp. 27-33