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Acetyl salicylic acid (ASA), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, was formulated into inclusion complexes by grinding and precipitation with β-cyclodextrin and freeze drying with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) cross-linked β-cyclodextrin nanosponges. Particle size, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, accelerated stability study, in vitro and in vivo release studies were used as characterization parameters. TEM studies showed that the particle sizes of different inclusion complexes of ASA have diameters ranging from 40.12 ± 8.79 to 59.53 ± 15.55 nm. It also revealed the regular spherical shape and sizes of complexes that are even unaffected after drug encapsulation. Zeta potential was sufficiently high to obtain a stable colloidal formulation. The in vitro and in vivo studies indicated a slow and prolonged ASA release from PMDA cross-linked β-cyclodextrin nanosponges over a long period. XRPD, DSC and FTIR studies confirmed the interactions of ASA with nanosponges. XRPD showed the crystalline nature of ASA decreased after encapsulation. These results indicate that ASA nanosponges formulation can be used for oral delivery.

The paper deals with the Neuro-fuzzy model-based control and its application. Various types of the fuzzy logic and neural-net-based nonlinear autoregressive models with exogenous variables are reviewed with respect to the model error. Two types of model-based neuro-fuzzy control – a cancellation controller and a predictive controller are reviewed – and the robustness issues of such control are discussed. Finally, the application of the proposed design method to a laboratory scale heat exchanger is given.

A security extension for IEEE Std 1149.1 is proposed. It provides a locking mechanism which prevents unauthorised users to interfere via test bus with the system normal operation. The security extension requires small hardware overhead and allows full conformance with IEEE Std 1149.1.

We describe a computer-aided approach to automatic fault isolation in active analog filters which enhances the design-for-test (DFT) methodology proposed by Soma (1990). His primary concern was in increased controllability and observability while the fault isolation procedure was sketched only in general terms. We operationalize and extend the DFT methodology by using CLP(R) to model analog circuits and by a model-based diagnosis approach to implement a diagnostic algorithm. CLP(R) is a logic programming language which combines symbolic and numeric computation. The diagnostic algorithm uses different DFT test modes and results of voltage measurements for different frequencies and computes a set of suspected components. Ranking of suspected components is based on a measure of (normalized) standard deviations from predicted mean values of component parameters. The diagnosis is performed incrementally, in each step reducing the set of potential candidates for the detected fault. Presented case studies show encouraging results in isolation of soft faults of a given low pass biquad filter.

Intravenously administered iodinated contrast media have been demonstrated, since early experience with computed tomography of the brain, to improve clinical value of the procedure for detecting intracranial lesions. There is no universal agreement about the amount and the method of administration of the contrast medium. Many authors maintain that the use of large doses gives better results for the diagnosis of tumors and metastases. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the tolerance of iopamidol administered by rapid intravenous infusion in a large number of patients undergoing contrast enhanced computed tomography to detect brain metastases. The authors examined 969 consecutive adult patients suffering from lung cancer, brain metastases have been detected in 17% of cases. Adverse reactions to contrast media occurred in 3 patients. Non ionic contrast media are recommended in this diagnostic procedure.