Small volume laboratory on a chip measurements incorporating the quartz crystal microbalance to measure the viscosity-density product of room temperature ionic liquids

A microfluidic glass chip system incorporating a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to measure the square root of the viscosity-density product of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) is presented. The QCM covers a central recess on a glass chip, with a seal formed by tightly clamping from above outside the sensing region. The change in resonant frequency of the QCM allows for the determination of the square root viscosity-density product of RTILs to a limit of similar to 10 kg m(-2) s(-0.5). This method has reduced the sample size needed for characterization from 1.5 ml to only 30 mu l and allows the measurement to be made in an enclosed system.

Annotating an Oral Corpus using the Text Encoding Initiative. Methodology, Problems, Solutions

The objective of this paper is to describe and evaluate the application of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Guidelines to a corpus of oral French, this being the first corpus of oral French where the TEI has been used. The paper explains the purpose of the corpus, both in creating a specialist corpus of néo-contage that will broaden the range of oral corpora available, and, more importantly, in creating a dataset to explore a variety of oral French that has a particularly interesting status in terms of factors such as conception orale/écrite, réalisation médiale and comportement communicatif (Koch and Oesterreicher 2001). The linguistic phenomena to be encoded are both stylistic (speech and thought presentation) and syntactic (negation, detachment, inversion), and all represent areas where previous research has highlighted the significance of factors such as medium, register and discourse type, as well as a host of linguistic factors (syntactic, phonetic, lexical). After a discussion of how a tagset can be designed and applied within the TEI to encode speech and thought presentation, negation, detachment and inversion, the final section of the paper evaluates the benefits and possible drawbacks of the methodology offered by the TEI when applied to a syntactic and stylistic markup of an oral corpus.

Neural Network Modeling of Rheological Parameters of Grouts Containing Viscosity-Modifying Agent

The development of artificial neural network (ANN) models to predict the rheological behavior of grouts is described is this paper and the sensitivity of such parameters to the variation in mixture ingredients is also evaluated. The input parameters of the neural network were the mixture ingredients influencing the rheological behavior of grouts, namely the cement content, fly ash, ground-granulated blast-furnace slag, limestone powder, silica fume, water-binder ratio (w/b), high-range water-reducing admixture, and viscosity-modifying agent (welan gum). The six outputs of the ANN models were the mini-slump, the apparent viscosity at low shear, and the yield stress and plastic viscosity values of the Bingham and modified Bingham models, respectively. The model is based on a multi-layer feed-forward neural network. The details of the proposed ANN with its architecture, training, and validation are presented in this paper. A database of 186 mixtures from eight different studies was developed to train and test the ANN model. The effectiveness of the trained ANN model is evaluated by comparing its responses with the experimental data that were used in the training process. The results show that the ANN model can accurately predict the mini-slump, the apparent viscosity at low shear, the yield stress, and the plastic viscosity values of the Bingham and modified Bingham models of the pseudo-plastic grouts used in the training process. The results can also predict these properties of new mixtures within the practical range of the input variables used in the training with an absolute error of 2%, 0.5%, 8%, 4%, 2%, and 1.6%, respectively. The sensitivity of the ANN model showed that the trend data obtained by the models were in good agreement with the actual experimental results, demonstrating the effect of mixture ingredients on fluidity and the rheological parameters with both the Bingham and modified Bingham models.

Ionic Liquids Containing Boron Cluster Anions

The combination of different boron cluster anions and some of the cations typically found in the composition of ionic liquids has been possible by straightforward metathetic reactions, producing new low melting point salts; the imidazolium cations have been systematically studied, [C(n)mim](+) (when [C(n)mim](+) = 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium; n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, or 18). Melting points increase in the anionic order [Co(C2B9H11)(2)](-) =-34 degrees C). The salts [C(n)mim](2)[X] ([X](2-) = [B10Cl10](2-) or [B12Cl12](2-), n = 16 or 18) show liquid crystal phases between the solid and liquid states. Tetraalkylphosphonium salts of [B10Cl10](2-) have also been prepared. Physical properties, such as thermal stability, density, or viscosity, have been measured for some selected samples. The presence of the perhalogenated dianion [B12Cl12](2-) in the composition of the imidazolium salts renders highly thermally stable compounds. For example, [C(2)mim](2)[B12Cl12] starts to decompose above 480 degrees C in a dynamic TGA analysis under a dinitrogen atmosphere. Crystal structures of [C(2)mim][Co(C2B9H11)(2)] and [C(2)mim](2)[B12Cl12] have been determined. H-1 NMR spectra of selected imidazolium-boron cluster anion salts have been recorded from solutions as a function of the concentration, showing trends related to the cation-anion interactions.

Effectiveness of different footbath solutions in the treatment of digital dermatitis in dairy cows

Three experiments were conducted to test the effectiveness of different footbath solutions and regimens in the treatment of digital dermatitis (DD) in dairy cows. During the study, groups of cows walked through allocated footbath solutions after milking on 4 consecutive occasions. All cows were scored weekly for DD lesion stage on the hind feet during milking. A “transition grade” was assigned on the basis of whether the DD lesions improved (1) or deteriorated or did not improve (0) from week to week. This grade per cow was averaged for all cows in the group. In experiment 1, 118 cows were allocated to 1 of 3 footbath treatments for 5 wk: (1) 5% CuSO4 each week, (2) 2% ClO- each week, or (3) no footbath (control). The mean transition grade, and proportion of cows without DD lesions at the end of the trial were significantly higher for treatment 1 above (0.36, 0.13, and 0.11, respectively; standard error of the difference, SED=0.057). In experiment 2, 117 cows were allocated to 1 of 4 footbath treatment regimens for 8 wk: (1) 5% CuSO4 each week, (2) 2% CuSO4 each week, (3) 5% CuSO4 each fortnight, or (4) 2% CuSO4 each fortnight. For welfare reasons, cows allocated to the weekly and fortnightly footbath regimens had an average prevalence of >60% and =25% active DD at the start of the trial, respectively. Significantly more cows had no DD lesions (0.53 vs. 0.36, respectively; SED=0.049), and the mean transition grade of DD lesions was higher in the 5% compared with the 2% weekly CuSO4 treatment (0.52 vs. 0.38, respectively; SED=0.066). Similarly, significantly more cows had no DD lesions in the 5% compared with the 2% fortnightly CuSO4 treatments (0.64 vs. 0.47, respectively; SED=0.049). In experiment 3, 95 cows were allocated to 1 of 3 footbath treatments: (1) each week alternating 5% CuSO4 with 10% salt water, (2) each week alternating 5% CuSO4 with water, or (3) 5% CuSO4 each fortnight (control). After 10 wk, more cows had no DD in the salt water treatment than in the control treatment (0.35 vs. 0.26, respectively; SED=0.038), but levels of active lesions were higher for this treatment than in the other 2 treatments (0.17, 0.00, and 0.13, respectively; SED=0.029). Treatment did not affect mean transition grade of DD lesions. In conclusion, CuSO4 was the only footbath solution that was consistently effective for treatment of DD. In cases when DD prevalence was high, a footbath each week using 5% CuSO4 was the most effective treatment.

The effect of the binder size and viscosity on agglomerate growth in fluidised hot melt granulation

Fluidised hot melt granulation (FHMG) is a novel granulation technique for processing pharmaceutical powders. Several process and formulation parameters have been shown to significantly influence granulation characteristics within FHMG. In this study we have investigated the effect of the binder properties (binder particle size and binder viscosity) on agglomerate growth mechanisms within FHMG. Low-melting point co-polymers of polyoxyethylene–polyoxypropylene (Lutrol® F68 Poloxamer 188 and Lutrol® F127 Poloxamer 407) were used as meltable binders for FHMG, while standard ballotini beads were used as model fillers for this process. Standard sieve analysis was used to determine the size distribution of granules whereas we utilised fluorescence microscopy to investigate the distribution of binder within granules. This provided further insight into the growth mechanisms during FHMG. Binder particle size and viscosity were found to affect the onset time of granulation. Agglomerate growth achieved equilibrium within short time-scales and was shown to proceed by two competing processes, breakage of formed granules and re-agglomeration of fractured granules. Breakage was affected by the initial material properties (binder size and viscosity). When using binder with a small particle size (<250 µm), agglomerate growth via a distribution mechanism dominated. Increasing the binder particle size shifted the granulation mechanism such that agglomerates were formed predominantly via immersion. A critical ratio between binder diameter and filler has been calculated and this value may be useful for predicting or controlling granulation growth processes.

Physicochemical characterisation and drug release properties of celecoxib hot melt extruded glass solutions

Formulation of Celecoxib into solid dosage forms is difficult due to the physical properties of the drug powder. However for the first time, this paper reports on the drug delivery characteristics glass solutions of celecoxib and polyvinylpyrrolidone prepared by hot melt extrusion, together with use of supercritical carbon dioxide to achieve a porous structure, in order to achieve a stable and enhanced drug release.