Dwell time on tableting: dwell time according to force versus geometric dwell time.

Dwell time is an important parameter responsible for the material deformation and the mechanical and biopharmaceutical properties of the tablet. Thus, it is widely used for scale-up purposes. The geometric dwell time (GDT) can be assumed based on the shape of the punch head and the diameter and speed of the turret. This research is aimed to compare compaction simulator-recorded dwell time according to force (DTF) and the GDT calculated for the simulated rotary tablet press using the microcrystalline cellulose and calcium phosphate mixtures (CEOLUS™ UF-711 and DI-CAFOS® A60) in different proportions. Tablets were prepared, and DTF was analyzed with a compaction simulator (STYL'One Nano and Alix software) upon simulating a small rotary press at 70 rpm and a compression pressure of 10-50 kN (100-500 MPa). While GDT comprised of 14.4 ms, DTF was compression force and formulation dependent. The differences between the DTF values of the formulations decreased as the compression force increased, which was most pronounced at compression forces of 10 and 15 kN.

Quantifying Dwell Time With Location-based Augmented Reality: Dynamic AOI Analysis on Mobile Eye Tracking Data With Vision Transformer.

Mobile eye tracking captures egocentric vision and is well-suited for naturalistic studies. However, its data is noisy, especially when acquired outdoor with multiple participants over several sessions. Area of interest analysis on moving targets is difficult because A) camera and objects move nonlinearly and may disappear/reappear from the scene; and B) off-the-shelf analysis tools are limited to linearly moving objects. As a result, researchers resort to time-consuming manual annotation, which limits the use of mobile eye tracking in naturalistic studies. We introduce a method based on a fine-tuned Vision Transformer (ViT) model for classifying frames with overlaying gaze markers. After fine-tuning a model on a manually labelled training set made of 1.98% (=7845 frames) of our entire data for three epochs, our model reached 99.34% accuracy as evaluated on hold-out data. We used the method to quantify participants' dwell time on a tablet during the outdoor user test of a mobile augmented reality application for biodiversity education. We discuss the benefits and limitations of our approach and its potential to be applied to other contexts.

Negative Pressure Wound Therapy with Instillation and Dwell Time for Pharyngocutaneous Fistula.

Pharyngocutaneous fistula is a critical complication of head and neck cancer reconstruction and it is often difficult to manage. We herein report two cases of pharyngocutaneous fistulas that developed after oropharyngeal reconstruction and were successfully treated with negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwell time (NPWTi-d), an advanced form of traditional NPWT. NPWTi-d may be a useful nonsurgical treatment for pharyngocutaneous fistula. Laryngoscope, 2024.

Assessment between antiseptic and normal saline for negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwell time in diabetic foot infections.

Negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwell time (NPWTi-d) is increasingly used for a diverse range of wounds. Meanwhile, the topical wound irrigation solution consisting of polyhexamethylene biguanide and betaine (PHMB-B) has shown efficacy in managing wound infections. However, the effectiveness of this solution as a topical instillation solution for NPWTi-d in patients with diabetic foot infections (DFIs) has not been thoroughly studied. The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the impact of using PHMB-B as the instillation solution during NPWTi-d on reducing bioburden and improving clinical outcomes in patients with DFIs. Between January 2017 and December 2022, a series of patients with DFIs received treatment with NPWTi-d, using either PHMB-B or normal saline as the instillation solution. Data collected retrospectively included demographic information, baseline wound characteristics, and treatment outcomes. The study included 61 patients in the PHMB-B group and 73 patients in the normal saline group, all diagnosed with DFIs. In comparison to patients treated with normal saline, patients with PHMB-B exhibited no significant differences in terms of wound bed preparation time (P = 0.5034), length of hospital stay (P = 0.6783), NPWTi-d application times (P = 0.1458), duration of systematic antimicrobial administration (P = 0.3567), or overall cost of hospitalization (P = 0.6713). The findings of the study suggest that the use of either PHMB-B or normal saline as an instillation solution in NPWTi-d for DFIs shows promise and effectiveness, yet no clinical distinction was observed between the two solutions.

Sodium removal per ultrafiltration volume in automated peritoneal dialysis in pediatric patients.

BACKGROUND: The standard rate of sodium removal in adult anuric patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is 7.5 g/L of ultrafiltration volume (UFV). Although automated PD (APD) is widely used in pediatric patients, no attempt has yet been made to estimate sodium removal in APD. METHODS: The present, retrospective cohort study included pediatric patients with APD who were managed at Tokyo Metropolitan Children's Medical Center between July 2010 and November 2017. The patients underwent a peritoneal equilibrium test (PET) at our hospital. Sodium removal per UFV was calculated by peritoneal function and dwell time using samples from patients on APD with 1- and 2-h dwell effluent within three months of PET and 4- and 10-h dwell effluent at PET. RESULTS: In total, 217 samples from 18 patients were included, with 63, 81, and 73 of the samples corresponding to the High [H], High-average [HA], and Low-average [LA] PET category, respectively. Sodium removal per UFV (g/L in salt equivalent) for dwell times of one, two, four, and ten hours was 5.2, 8.8, 8.0, and 11.5 for PET [H], 5.3, 5.8, 5.6, and 8.1 for PET [HA], and 4.6, 5.1, 5.1, and 7.1 for PET [LA], respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Sodium removal per UFV in pediatric APD was less than the standard adult CAPD and tended to be lower with shorter dwell times, leading to sodium accumulation. Therefore, salt intake should be restricted in combination with one or more long daytime dwells, especially in anuric patients.

An Experiment on the Dwell Time Effect of Rubber Seal O-Rings: Friction Force in Intermittent Reciprocating Motion.

The adhesive force between two contact surfaces often leads to an increase in the friction force of the rubber seal O-ring after a certain dwell time, forming dwell time effects and affecting the reliability of sealing. The dwell time effect may result in substantial instability with respect to the frictional behavior of rubber O-rings, which needs to be carefully taken into account in the design of rubber seals. Therefore, in this paper, the dwell time effect of the friction force was studied experimentally for intermittent reciprocating rubber seal O-rings coupled with stainless steel 316L and a sealing air medium. The friction force of three kinds of rubber materials, including fluorine rubber (FPM), silicone rubber (SI), and nitrile rubber (NBR), was measured under different dwell times, compression ratios, and seal pressure. The results showed that there was a rolling frictional force, and the second peak value of the frictional force caused by the O-ring's rolling under shear action and after the maximum static frictional force was observed at the starting stage of reciprocating motion. For FPM O-rings, the rolling friction force was much greater than the maximum static frictional force at about four times the value of the compression ratio at 9% and seal pressure at 0; moreover, the force was much greater at greater compression ratios. The dwell time effect was significant in the friction forces of rubber O-rings. The friction force increases with an increase in dwell time. The increase in maximum static friction force exceeded 50% after 5 dwell days. The increase in seal pressure led to the disappearance of the rolling friction feature and the rapid increase in friction during the starting stage. Under gas seal pressure conditions, the dwell time effect still led to a significant increase in friction force. The obtained results might provide guidance for the material selection of sealing designs.

Bumpless transfer control for switched impulsive positive systems with L1-gain performance.

This paper investigates the problem of bumpless transfer control for switched impulsive positive systems with L1-gain performance. For switched impulsive positive systems, the control bump is brought from both switching behavior and impulsive effects. First, the concept of bumpless transfer performance is proposed by imposing magnitude constraints on the control signal to measure the level of bumpless transfer in the switched impulsive positive system. Then, based on a new class of multiple piecewise-continuous copositive Lyapunov function, a tighter mode-dependent average dwell time switching signal bound and bumpless transfer controller are designed to realize positive property, bumpless transfer and L1-gain performance of the closed-loop systems. Finally, the feasibility and superiority of the proposed control strategy are illustrated by simulations.

Negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwell time in debridement of fibrinous leg ulcers.

OBJECTIVE: In conjunction with appropriate wound care, negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwell time (NPWTi-d) may be used as an adjunct therapy for acute or hard-to-heal (chronic) wounds, especially when infected. However, there are very few data on the use of NPWTi-d in the treatment of fibrinous wounds that are difficult to debride mechanically. The main objective of this study was to describe changes in the fibrin area of such wounds, before and after treatment with NPWTi-d. METHOD: This was a monocentric, observational, prospective pilot study evaluating the NPWTi-d medical device. Eligible patients included in the study were those with hard-to-heal lower limb ulcers who had previously undergone unsuccessful specific debridement treatment for their wound, with failure of manual mechanic debridement for at least six weeks' duration, and whose wounds had a fibrinous surface area of >70% of the total wound surface area. The primary endpoint was the difference in the percentage of fibrinous surface area before and after treatment. RESULTS: A total of 14 patients who received treatment for lower limb ulcers between October 2017 and August 2019 were included in the study. There was a significant shrinkage rate of the fibrinous wound surface between the start and end of treatment (83.6±14.5% and 32.2±19.7%, respectively; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: This study showed a significant decrease in fibrin area in wounds treated with NPWTi-d, with good tolerance. We believe that NPWTi-d has its place in the multidisciplinary management of patients with hard-to-heal ulcers. Additional randomised studies are required to confirm these findings. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Effects of impulse on prescribed-time synchronization of switching complex networks.

The specified convergence time, designated by the user, is highly attractive for many high-demand applications such as industrial robot control, missile guidance, and autonomous vehicles. For the application of neural networks in the field of secure communication and power systems, the importance of prescribed-time synchronization(PTs) and stable performance of the system is more prominent. This paper introduces a prescribed-time controller without the fractional power function and sign function, which can reach synchronization at a prescribed time and greatly reduce the chattering phenomenon of neural networks. Additionally, by constructing synchronizing/desynchronizing impulse sequences, the PTs of switching complex networks(SCN) is achieved with impulse effects, where the time sequences of switching and impulse occurrences in the networks are constrained by the average dwell time. This approach effectively reduces the impact of frequent mode switching on network synchronization, and the synchronization time can be flexibly adjusted within any physically allowable range to accommodate different application requirements. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is demonstrated by two examples.

Association between peripheral intravenous catheters and clinical characteristics in the development of phlebitis.

BACKGROUND: Serious complications can develop from erroneous insertion of a peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC). Successful PIVC insertion has a great place in the continuation of IV treatment without causing complications that may require the removal of the PIVC. METHODS: The population for this prospective observational study included patients who had undergone PIVC insertion in the surgical, intensive care, and inpatient units of a large teaching and research hospital in Istanbul. Data were collected via a patient information form, a PIVC and treatment information form, the Visual Infusion Phlebitis (VIP) scale, and a PIVC nurse observation form. The SPSS 24 software package was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Of the 168 patients enrolled, 64.9% (n = 109) were male, and the mean age was 56.71 ± 17.97 years. The mean PIVC dwell time was 73.46 ± 21.57 h, and 32.7% (n = 55) of the catheters were removed due to discharge from hospital. Overall, 29.2% (n = 49) of the cases developed phlebitis, with half of the cases (51%, n = 25) developing grade 2 phlebitis and developed within 48 h in 38.8% of cases (n = 19). The mean PIVC dwell time was significantly lower in patients with phlebitis than in those with no phlebitis (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It was determined that PIVC dwell time could be increased by routine surveillance to monitor for phlebitis regularly. It is recommended that education programs for nurses be developed to prevent PIVC-related complications.

Graphene removal by water-assisted focused electron-beam-induced etching - unveiling the dose and dwell time impact on the etch profile and topographical changes in SiO2 substrates.

Graphene is one of the most extensively studied 2D materials, exhibiting extraordinary mechanical and electronic properties. Although many years have passed since its discovery, manipulating single graphene layers is still challenging using standard resist-based lithography techniques. Recently, it has been shown that it is possible to etch graphene directly in water-assisted processes using the so-called focused electron-beam-induced etching (FEBIE), with a spatial resolution of ten nanometers. Nanopatterning graphene with such a method in one single step and without using a physical mask or resist is a very appealing approach. During the process, on top of graphene nanopatterning, we have found significant morphological changes induced in the SiO2 substrate even at low electron dose values (<8 nC/µm2). We demonstrate that graphene etching and topographical changes in SiO2 substrates can be controlled via electron beam parameters such as dwell time and dose.

Establishing a fingerprinting method for fast catheter identification in HDR brachytherapy in vivo dosimetry.

PURPOSE: To use quantities measurable during in vivo dosimetry to build unique channel identifiers, that enable detection of brachytherapy errors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Treatment plan of 360 patients with prostate cancer who underwent high-dose-rate brachytherapy (range, 16-25 catheters; mean, 17) were used. A single point virtual dosimeter was placed at multiple positions within the treatment geometry, and the source-dosimeter distance and dwell time were determined for each dwell position in each catheter. These values were compared across all catheters, dwell position by dwell position, simulating a treatment delivery. A catheter was considered uniquely identified if, for a given dwell position, no other catheters had the same measured values. The minimum number of dwell positions needed to identify a specific catheter and the optimal dosimeter location uniquely were determined. The radial (r) and vertical (z) dimensions of the source-dosimeter distance were also examined for their utility in discriminating catheters. RESULTS: Using a virtual dosimeter with no uncertainties, all catheters were identified in 359 of the 360 cases with 9 dwell position measurements. When only the dwell time were measured, all catheters were uniquely identified after 1 dwell position. With a 2-mm spatial accuracy (r,z), all catheters were identified in 94% of the plans. Simultaneous measurement of source-dosimeter distance and dwell time ensured full catheter identification in all plans ranging from 2 to 6 dwell positions. The number of dwell positions needed to uniquely identify all catheters was lower when the distance from the implant center was higher. CONCLUSIONS: The most efficient fingerprinting approach involved combining source-dosimeter distance (i.e., source tracking) and dwell time. The further the dosimeter is placed from the center of the implant the better it can uniquely identify catheters.

New stability results for discrete-time switched systems under admissible edge-dependent average persistent dwell-time or admissible edge-dependent persistent dwell-time switching.

This paper is devoted to the stability analysis of a class of discrete-time switched systems under newly designed switching regularities. The utilized switching is extended from the primitive mode-dependent persistent dwell-time switching. By integrating the existing admissible edge-dependent average dwell-time switching into the mode-dependent persistent dwell-time regime, a novel admissible edge-dependent average persistent dwell-time strategy involving the notion of admissible transition edges is proposed. The integrated admissible edge-dependent average dwell-time switching has been confirmed to be superior to mode-dependent average dwell-time switching. This superiority makes the proposed switching more general than the relaxed mode-dependent persistent dwell-time switching in the literature. Even if the embedded admissible edge-dependent average dwell-time restrictions degrade to admissible edge-dependent dwell-time ones under special parameter settings, the resulting admissible edge-dependent persistent dwell-time switching retains the advantage of admissible transition edges to generalize the original mode-dependent persistent dwell-time switching. Meanwhile, to remove the switching information reliance in the existing multiple convex Lyapunov functions, an improved multiple convex Lyapunov function method is devised. The designed Lyapunov function can be used to implement broader feasible ranges and tighter lower bounds of admissible edge-dependent average persistent dwell-time (or admissible edge-dependent persistent dwell-time). Finally, the validity and efficiency of the presented approaches are illustrated by a three-phase inverter and a numerical example.

Nonfragile output-feedback control for switched singular positive systems with time-varying delay under the Round-Robin protocol.

This paper investigates a class of switched singular positive systems with time-varying delay, where the system parameters are uncertain. In order to decrease the consumption of the communication resources and avoid the phenomenon of data congestion, Round-Robin protocol is employed here. This is the first few attempts to introduce the Round-Robin protocol for such kind of positive systems. Moreover, the nonfragile controller is designed to suppress the undesired dynamical behaviors, which may occur if no control is implemented. By means of the matrix decomposition technique and the mode-dependent average dwell time method, sufficient conditions are established to ensure that the obtained closed-loop system has a prescribed l1 disturbance attenuation performance. Finally, three examples are presented to illustrate feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Rural Trauma Team Development Course Positively Impacts its Desired Objectives.

BACKGROUND: The Rural Trauma Team Development Course (RTTDC) is designed to help rural hospitals better organize and manage trauma patients with limited resources. Although RTTDC is well-established, limited literature exists regarding improvement in the overall objectives for which the course was designed. The aim of this study was to analyze the goals of RTTDC, hypothesizing improvements in course objectives after course completion. METHODS: This was a prospective, observational study from 2015 through 2021. All hospitals completing the RTTDC led by our Level 1, academic trauma hospital were included. Our institutional database was queried for individual patient data. Cohorts were delineated before and after RTTDC was provided to the rural hospital. Basic demographics were obtained. Outcomes of interest included: Emergency Department (ED) dwell time, decision time to transfer, number of total images/computed tomography scans obtained, and mortality. Chi square and non-parametric median test were used. Significance was set at P < .05. RESULTS: Sixteen rural hospitals were included with a total of 472 patients transferred (240 before and 232 after). Patient demographics were similar before and after RTTDC. ED dwell time was significantly reduced by 64 min (P = .003) and decision to transfer time was cut by 62 min (P = .004) after RTTDC. Mean total radiographic images and CT scans were significantly reduced (P < .001 and P = .002, respectively) after RTTDC. Mortality was unaffected by RTTDC completion (P = .941). CONCLUSION: The RTTDC demonstrates decreased ED dwell time, decision time to transfer, and number of radiographic images obtained prior to transfer. More rural hospitals should be offered this course.

Study of compaction tools and parameters on critical quality attributes of high drug load minitablets.

Minitablets are prepared using multiple die openings and multi-tip punches for greater productivity. With multiple tips on the punch barrel, the overall compaction force to be applied is commonly estimated by multiplying the desired compaction force per tip by the number of punch tips. Few researchers have however examined this proportionality and the effects of the number of punch tips and punch face geometry on the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of high drug load minitablets. In this study, the minitablets prepared by multi-tip tools exhibited greater weight variation than those prepared by single-tip tools. Their compaction was accompanied by a longer dwell time that led to a higher minitablet tensile strength and consequently a longer disintegration time. The compaction forces required to achieve a consistent set of minitablet CQAs were not directly proportional to the number of punch tips used. In comparison, the effect of punch face geometry was negligible. Increasing concentration of magnesium stearate (as lubricant) from 0.75 to 1.25 %, w/w reduced weight variation, especially of minitablets prepared by the multi-tip tools. It also increased the disintegration time but had no significant effect on the tensile strength of the minitablets regardless of type of tools used. The adjustment of compaction speed was an effective compensatory method to mitigate the differences in dwell time and tensile strength between minitablets prepared by single-tip and multi-tip standard concave tools. A larger reduction in compaction speed of the single-tip tools was required at higher compaction pressures.

Visitor engagement with zoo staff and interpretive demonstrations increases visitor stay time in two free-flight aviaries.

Understanding how visitors spend time in zoo exhibits is important as zoological facilities work to enhance visitor experience and conservation education outcomes. We explored a variety of factors we hypothesized would influence visitor stay times in two aviaries at Disney's Animal Kingdom®. Within these aviaries, visitors could utilize educational materials, listen to staff-led demonstrations, or talks, view animal training sessions, or speak directly with animal care or education staff. We observed visitors and recorded the opportunities they utilized in the exhibit. Visitors to either aviary who conversed with exhibit-specific staff stayed between 67% and 89% longer than visitors who did not. In addition, visitors who used a bird guide while in either aviary stayed between 59% and 82% longer than those who did not. Those who listened to an animal care talk or engaged with a staff-led demonstration stayed between 50% and 68% longer than those who did not have the option to participate in such activities. This study provides insight into how exhibit offerings can influence visitor behavior. Implementing strategies used in this study to increase visitors' time in an exhibit may enhance visitor experience and improve learning outcomes.

A Method for Optimizing the Dwell Time of Optical Components in Magnetorheological Finishing Based on Particle Swarm Optimization.

In this paper, a dwell time optimization method based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed according to the pulse iteration principle in order to achieve high-precision magnetorheological finishing of optical components. The dwell time optimization method explores the optimal solution in the solution space by comparing the accuracy value of the final surface with the set value. In this way, the dwell time optimization method was able to achieve global optimization of the overall dwell times and each dwell time point, ultimately realizing the high-precision processing of a surface. Through the simulation of two Φ156 mm asphaltic mirrors (1# and 2#), the root-mean-square (RMS) and peak-valley (PV) values of 1# converged from the initial values of 169.164 nm and 1161.69 nm to 24.79 nm and 911.53 nm. Similarly, the RMS and PV values of 2# converged from the initial values of 187.27 nm and 1694.05 nm to 31.76 nm and 1045.61 nm. The simulation results showed that compared with the general pulse iteration method, the proposed algorithm could obtain a more accurate dwell time distribution of each point under the condition of almost the same processing time, subsequently acquiring a better convergence surface and reducing mid-spatial error. Finally, the accuracy of the optimization algorithm was verified through experiments. The experimental results demonstrated that the optimized algorithm could be used to perform high-precision surface machining. Overall, this optimization method provides a solution for dwell time calculation in the process of the magnetorheological finishing of optical components.