The aim of this study was to determine several obstetric and neonatal parameters in the Maine Coon breed. The birth data of Maine Coon breeding population were collected of 52 litters from different households using a questionnaire. Significant relationships between various outcomes and the relevant predictors were assessed by multiple linear regression or logistic regression, as appropriate. The overall mean gestation length was 65.5±1.32 days. Larger litter size was associated with shorter gestation lengths (p<0.01). Mean litter size was 5.3±2.3 kittens. The weight of kittens born alive (overall mean 119.6±18.4 g) increased with prolonged gestation lengths (p<0.01) and decreased with larger litter sizes (p<0.01). In the analyzed group of kittens, 12.5% were stillborn. The expulsion intervals varied widely. The duration of the first stage of labour was less than 2h in 82.9% of the cats. The interval between the birth of the first and the last kitten was less than 6h in 99.3% of the cats, and it exceeded 6 h in only 2 cats. The present results can be used to develop references values and reliable assistance protocol for assessing the parturition in the Maine Coon to protect the queen and reduce perinatal losses.

The purpose of the studies was to estimate efficiency of delivering nebulised drugs into the lower respiratory tract through endotracheal tubes (ET tubes) which are commonly used in the treatment of uncooperative patients. Water solution of Disodium Cromoglycate (DSCG) was nebulised with a constant air flow (25 l/min). Experimental studies were done for eight ET tubes with varying sizes (internal diameter, length) and made of two different materials. Size distribution of aerosol leaving ET tubes was determined with the use of aerosol spectrometer. Fine Particle Fraction (FPF) and Mass Median Aerodynamic Diameter (MMAD) were calculated for the aerosol leaving each tube. Additionally, mass of the Disodium Cromoglycate deposited into each endotracheal tube was determined. ET tubes can significantly influence the parameters of delivered aerosol depending on their diameter. FPF of aerosol delivered in to the respiratory tract is lower if small endotracheal tubes are used. However, MMAD and FPF for large endotracheal tubes are almost identical with MMAD and FPF from nebuliser. The results indicate that a substantial fraction of large droplets is eliminated from the aerosol stream in long endotracheal tubes (270 mm). In this case the mass of drug delivered through ET tubes is reduced but the content of small droplets increases (high value of FPF).

Developing an effective and safe cancer therapy could significantly reduce the number of deaths and improve the quality of life of treated patients. Nowadays medicine has developed a wide range of anticancer chemotherapeutics but at the same time there is a lack of effective drug delivery methods. Therefore, the development of the targeted drug delivery system which will selectively release drug into the cancer cells is a key challenge of modern medicine.
The main aim of the presented research was to investigate the targeting effect of a drug delivery system based on the controlled release of dextran nanoparticles containing the anticancer drug – doxorubicin from the alginate microspheres coated with chitosan multilayers.
During the research the physicochemical properties of the alginate microspheres and its stability in the physiological environment were investigated. Moreover, the kinetics of the nanoparticles with doxorubicin release from the alginate microspheres covered with chitosan multilayers was characterized, depending on the thickness of the chitosan layer. Further, the cytotoxicity study of the alginate microspheres covered with chitosan multilayer and containing nanoparticles was performed to determine the therapeutic effect of the released nanoparticles with doxorubicin on the HeLa cells during the in vitro cell culture.

Nozzle clogging seriously affects the continuity of spraying powder in vacuum induction melting gas atomization (VIGA) process and increases the consumption of gas and raw materials. However, there are few systematic studies on nozzle clogging. This paper reports the physics of nozzle clogging in gas atomization production. The influence of coupling-length of different melt delivery-tubes on nozzle clogging is studied numerically and experimentally. The interface tracking method of Volume of Fluid (VOF) and the large eddy simulation (LES) model are performed for visualizing the melt droplets flow traces in primary atomization and the associated simulation cloud images compared with experimental results. Four delivery-tube coupling-lengths (0 mm, 3 mm, 5 mm, and 7 mm) relative to nozzle position and two gas pressures (3 MPa and 4.5 MPa) are chosen for this study. The results indicated that the coupling-lengths of 0 mm and 3 mm increases the strength of the recirculation zone, the melt droplets backflow is obvious, and the nozzle is blocked. However, this phenomenon eliminated with increasing coupling-lengths, the atomization process is continuous, but the final fine powder yield decreases. This research is of guiding significance and reference for understanding the nozzle clogging of vacuum induction melting gas atomization (VIGA) technology.

In the calculations presented in the article, an artificial immune system (AIS) was used to plan the routes of the fleet of delivery vehicles supplying food products to customers waiting for the delivery within a specified, short time, in such a manner so as to avoid delays and minimize the number of delivery vehicles. This type of task is classified as an open vehicle routing problem with time windows (OVRPWT). It comes down to the task of a traveling salesman, which belongs to NP-hard problems. The use of the AIS to solve this problem proved effective. The paper compares the results of AIS with two other varieties of artificial intelligence: genetic algorithms (GA) and simulated annealing (SA). The presented methods are controlled by sets of parameters, which were adjusted using the Taguchi method. Finally, the results were compared, which allowed for the evaluation of all these methods. The results obtained using AIS proved to be the best.

The paper presents magnetic fluid as an excellent material platform for producing more complex magnetic drug delivery systems. In addition, the paper discusses the nanoparticle morphological (electron microscopy) and structural (X-ray diffraction) characterizations. M ossbauer spectroscopy and photoacoustic spectroscopy are revisited as key tools in the characterization of the magnetic core and diamagnetic shell of the magnetic nanoparticle, respectively.

Chemical and process engineering offers scientific tools for solving problems in the biomedical field, including drug delivery systems. This paper presents examples of analyzing the dynamics of dispersed systems (aerosols) in medical inhalers to establish a better relationship between the test evaluation results of these devices and the actual delivery of drugs to the lungs. This relationship is referred to as in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC). It has been shown that in dry powder inhalers (DPls), the aerosolization process and drug release times are determined by the inhalation profile produced by the patient. It has also been shown that inspiratory flow affects the size distribution of aerosols generated in other inhalation devices (vibrating mesh nebulizers, VMNs), which is due to the evaporation of droplets after the aerosol is mixed witha dditional air taken in by the patient. The effects demonstrated in this work are overlooked in standard inhaler testing methods, leading to inaccurate information about the health benefits of aerosol therapy, thus limiting the development of improved drug delivery systems.

In the work, the antioxidant activity of astaxanthin (AST) and the influence of the base formulation on the kinetics of AST release were studied. Three stable O/W AST-loaded emulsions, differing in droplet size (12.7 μm(E1), 3.8 μm(E2), 3.2 μm(E3)) and a nanoemulsion (0.13 μm, NE) were prepared. The results confirmed very strong antioxidant activity of AST. The emulsion internal phase droplet size did not significantly affect the AST release. The amount of released AST was respectively: 13.60% (E1), 11.42% (E2), 9.45% (E3), 9.71% (NE). The best fit to experimental data was obtained using the Higuchi model for emulsions and the Korsmeyer-Peppas model for NE. The results show that the AST release process is limited by the diffusion through carriers and the prepared O/W emulsions can be applied as vehicles for delivery of astaxanthin to the skin, ensuring effective anti-aging action of the cosmetics.

Since the beginning of the 21st century floating buildings have been growing in popularity in Poland. According to market research and quantitative studies, the majority of operative Polish floating buildings serve for commercial purposes, such as short-term rentals, vacation houses and floating marinas. Simultaneously, despite the increasing demand, the development of floating buildings in Poland is limited by the inconsistent legislation, government policy and, most importantly, natural conditions of Polish inland waters. The most attractive sites for floating architecture are the semi-natural lakeshores and riverbanks. At the same time, low water levels and poor maintenance of many Polish basins require special architectural and engineering solutions. The article presents our experience with meeting the market’s demand for small cost-effective floating commercial buildings despite the local shortcomings of inland waters on the example of the floating apartment built in 2019 on the Roś Lake in Pisz, Poland. The presented building was intended as a water-based extension of the existing hotel on land. It was designed as a “modern barn” with all-glazed gable wall allowing for a spectacular view to the lake. With a 50 sqm footprint, the one-story house with a mezzanine has a small draft of 33 cm and meets the stability criteria defined for inland waters. The presented case study shows that integrating the naval architecture theory, Building Information Modeling simulation along with cutting-edge construction techniques such as Scottsdale Construction System (SCS) and polyurethane spray insulation, can bring significant progress into the development of the floating buildings market in Poland.

Internet of Things (IoT) is the new research paradigm which has gained a great significance due to its widespread applicability in diverse fields. Due to the open nature of communication and control, the IoT network is more susceptible to several security threats. Hence the IoT network requires a trust aware mechanism which can identify and isolate the malicious nodes. Trust Sensing has been playing a significant role in dealing with security issue in IoT. A novel a Light Weight Clustered Trust Sensing (LWCTS) model is developed which ensures a secured and qualitative data transmission in the IoT network. Simulation experiments are conducted over the proposed model and the performance is compared with existing models. The obtained results prove the effectiveness when compared with existing approaches.

Radiation therapy can be adopted for many cancers, and it can damage healthy tissues and often induces skin lesions (pain/skin irritation/itchiness/dryness/swelling/redness). Many factors influence the adverse effects of radiotherapy, such as radiation dosage, dose frequency and fractioning, the area of skin exposed to radiation and treatment length. In this paper, multiple emulsions with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-NSAID (diclofenac) were developed and evaluated for effective topical treatment of skin lesions following anticancer therapy. Multiple emulsions with different drop sizes were prepared in a Couette- Taylor flow contactor. High encapsulation efficiency (> 90%) of diclofenac and high volume packing fraction of the internal droplets (0.54–0.96) were obtained. In addition, due to the presence of a polymer with adhesive properties - sodium carboxymethylcellulose, high emulsion stability (> 60 days) was achieved. The emulsions displayed properties of shearthinning fluids. The release study of diclofenac from a complex emulsion structure confirmed the possibility of modifying the release rates. The effectiveness of emulsion formulations was evaluated based on the viability tests of the fibroblast cell line irradiated with UV dose (15 J/m2) and then treated with the emulsion with diclofenac. The results showed that the multiple emulsion-based formulations might be appropriate carriers for the topical delivery of NSAID drugs.

The aim of the article is indicating the advantages of utilizing the synergy obtained by introducing two management methods: Lean Construction and Agile Management using the example of the process of deliveries of concrete mix in road construction. Despite the seemingly contradictory assumptions (Lean Management aims at limiting wastefulness and maximizing the value for the customer and agile management serves for creating the possibility for fast, effective response to non-expected changes thanks to the adopted strategy of flexibility, which usually requires engaging additional resources), both management methods deliver the effect of increasing the effectiveness of the machine laying the pavement. Using a “spaghetti diagram” (one of the tools of Lean Management) led to limiting the time losses during loading and unloading the concrete mix destined for constructing highway pavement. On the other hand, the tactic of technological flexibility in the form of a modification of the concrete mix allowed for broadening the time frame for the delivery of concrete to the construction site to as much as two hours. Moreover, applying the real time delivery management system (in accordance with the assumptions of Construction 4.0) created the possibilities for ensuring quick reacting to the changing conditions of delivery and laying the concrete mix in the pavement and ensuring the appropriate functioning of the machine laying the pavement. The presented examples indicated the advantages of the suggested concept in reference to the traditional solution.

The article examines two Aramaic contracts found on the island Elephantine and dating from the early fifth century B.C. The first one is a loan contract providing for payment of compound interest on silver lent: interest not paid timely is to be added to the capital and itself becomes interest-bearing at the same rate until actual repayment. If this is not done at an agreed date, the remaining debt is doubled. The second contract concerns delivery of barley and lentils from a ship to a royal store-house deserving a garrison. The parties are the ship-officer and functionaries acting on behalf of the store-house, where barley and lentils are supposed to be brought. It is a contract of delivery combining its acceptation on the ship and the foreseen completion of the contract in the store-house with expected financial results. Both contracts refer to silver “by the stone-weights of Ptah” and record its alloy.