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Current research work was carried out for gastro-protective delivery of naproxen sodium. Polyethylene glycol-g-poly (methacrylic acid) nanogels was developed through free radical polymerization technique. Formulation was characterized for swelling behaviour, entrapment e ciency, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Di erential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and ermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Powder X-ray di raction (PXRD), Zeta size distribution, and Zeta potential measurements, and invitro drug release. pH dependent swelling was observed with maximum drug release at higher pH. PXRD studies con rmed the conversion of loaded drug from crystalline to amorphous form while Zeta size measurement showed size reduction. On the basis of these results it was concluded that prepared nanogels proved an e ective tool for gastro-protective delivery of naproxen sodium.

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The paper discusses how joint damage and deterioration affect the seismic response of existing reinforced concrete frames with sub-standard beam–column joints. The available simplified modeling techniques are critically reviewed to propose a robust, yet computationally efficient, technique for simulating the nonlinear behavior of substandard beam–column joints. Improvements over the existing models include the simulation of the cyclic deterioration of joint stiffness and strength, as well as pinching in the hysteretic response, implemented considering a deteriorating hysteretic rule. A fiber-section forced-based inelastic beam–column element is developed, considering improved material models and fixed-end rotation due to bond failure, rebars-slip, and inelastic extension, to simulate the deteriorating cyclic behavior of existing pre-cracked beam–column members. For the assessment of frames with substandard exterior beam–column joints, a nonlinear model for the exterior joint is developed and validated through a full-scale quasi-static cyclic test performed on a substandard T-joint connection. The proposed model allows considering structural performance in risk assessment while accounting for true inelastic mechanisms at the joints. An assessment of a five-story RC frame revealed that the activation of the joint shear mechanism increases the chord rotation demand on the connecting beam members by up to 85%, with increases of up to 62% (mean drift) and 89% (mean + 1.std.) on the lower floors when determining the inter-story drift demand, and the collapse probability of structures subjected to design base ground motions increased from 4.20% to 29.20%.

With the growing demand for the development of intranasal (IN) products, such as nasal vaccines, which has been especially highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of novel technologies to accurately test the safety and effectiveness of IN products in vitro so that they can be delivered promptly to the market is critically acknowledged. There have been attempts to manufacture anatomically relevant 3D replicas of the human nasal cavity for in vitro IN drug tests, and a couple of organ-on-chip (OoC) models, which mimic some key features of the nasal mucosa, have been proposed. However, these models are still in their infancy, and have not completely recapitulated the critical characteristics of the human nasal mucosa, including its biological interactions with other organs, to provide a reliable platform for preclinical IN drug tests. While the promising potential of OoCs for drug testing and development is being extensively investigated in recent research, the applicability of this technology for IN drug tests has barely been explored. This review aims to highlight the importance of using OoC models for in vitro IN drug tests and their potential applications in IN drug development by covering the background information on the wide usage of IN drugs and their common side effects where some classical examples of each area are pointed out. Specifically, this review focuses on the major challenges of developing advanced OoC technology and discusses the need to mimic the physiological and anatomical features of the nasal cavity and nasal mucosa, the performance of relevant drug safety assays, as well as the fabrication and operational aspects, with the ultimate goal to highlight the much-needed consensus, to converge the effort of the research community in this area of work.

The utilization of composite materials is increasing at a growing rate in almost all types of products, due to their strength-to-stiffness ratio. From this perspective, natural waste composites, i.e., wood waste composites, have also been investigated for their effective and sustainable employment. This paper deals with the application of hard and soft wood waste (i.e., acacia and cedar wood) with epoxy resin polymer to develop high strength and thermally stable wood composites. Mechanical (tensile, flexural, impact, and hardness) and thermal properties of samples are studied using Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), respectively. The properties are evaluated by varying the type of wood waste and its percentage by weight. Based on the Taguchi Orthogonal Array Mixture Design, eighteen experiments are investigated. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results show that wood waste type and wood waste content have a significant effect on all mechanical properties. From the TGA analysis, it is predicted that both types of wood waste composites exhibit similar thermal-induced degradation profiles in terms of the initial and final degradation temperatures. From the DSC results, higher glass transition temperature Tg is detected in 10% of the hardwood waste composite, and a reducing tendency of glass transition temperature Tg is observed with exceeding wood waste content. Moreover, hardwood waste at 10% demonstrated improved decomposition temperature Td, due to strong adhesion between waste and matrix.

Over the past decade, ultrasonic cleaners have been widely used in many industries. Now, this technology is finding its way into homes for vegetable, fruit, and clothes cleaning. In widely used ultrasonic cleaners, piezoelectric transducers are externally attached to the steel tank to generate ultrasonic waves inside the tank. Based on the impedance data of the piezoelectric transducers, the driving circuit was tuned to generate the required frequencies inside the cleaning tank. This paper discusses the design, development, and validation of an 800 mL tank capacity ultrasonic cleaner driven with a piezoelectric disc actuator. To achieve an optimum cleaning action without surface abrasion, several characteristics need to be considered in this complex relationship. The placement of transducers has been investigated according to the pressure distribution inside the liquid medium. The optimized ultrasonic cleaner design, along with a class-D half-bridge circuit, was developed to drive the ultrasonic transducer in the resonance frequency range. To validate the optimal design and driving frequency, the acoustic spectrum generated inside the tank was measured using a piezoelectric sensor and FFT analysis was performed. To validate the cleaning effect, a qualitative test based on aluminuim foil perforations was performed. The perforation area in the foils was quantitatively measured using image processing based on the YOLO V5 technique. The proposed image processing technique has an accuracy of 97 % in the detection of perforation areas in the aluminuim foil test.