Production of granola breakfast cereal by fluidised bed granulation

In the fluidised bed granulation process the effect of nozzle air pressure and binder spray rate on key aggregate quality attributes were studied. The experimental results show that a decrease in nozzle air pressure leads to larger mean granule size. The combination of lowest nozzle air pressure and lowest binder spray rate results in granules with the highest levels of hardness and crispness. The combination of low nozzle air pressure and low binder spray rate results in the least distribution span. Granola hardness was affected by nozzle air pressure. Nozzle air pressure and binder spray rate did not have significant effect on crispness.     

A novel leukodepletion filter from electrospun poly(ethylene-vinyl alcohol) membranes and evaluation of its efficiency

The authors describe the fabrication and evaluation of a novel leukodepletion filter using novel poly(ethylene-vinyl alcohol) membranes through electrospinning. The membranes were biocompatible and nonhemolytic. A prototype of the filter was developed by stacking the membranes in a poly(methyl methacrylate) case. Upon whole blood filtration, the filter could achieve 100% leukodepletion while capturing 8% red blood cells and 91% platelets. The length of filtration through the developed filter was high when compared to that of marketed filter while overall performance of the filter was comparable to that of the marketed filter.     

Study of physicochemical properties of flutamide-loaded Ocimum basilicum microspheres with ex vivo mucoadhesion and in vitro drug release

Drug which shows extensive first pass effect is difficult task that, needs to be solved by formulators in the pharmaceutical science. The low oral bioavailability (49%) of flutamide may be due to poor wettability, low aqueous solubility and extensive first pass effect. The aim of present investigation was to prepare flutamide loaded microspheres and incorporate it into suppositories for rectal delivery to avoid first pass effect and enhance residence time. Flutamide loaded mucoadhesive microspheres of Ocimum Basilicum mucilage (OBM) were prepared using spray drying and characterized by percent production yield, encapsulation efficiency, particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index, DSC, SEM, XRPD, in vitro drug release and stability studies. Moreover, ex vivo mucoadhesion was investigated using falling liquid film technique to determine the adhesion of microspheres to sheep rectal mucosa. The microspheres had nearly spherical shape and size about 2.53?μm. The encapsulation efficiency and mucoadhesion of optimized formulation MBF10 were found to be 69.6?±?2.3% and 89.01?±?2.18%, respectively. Percent CDR of optimized flutamide loaded mucoadhesive microspheres was found to be 88.7?±?1.3 at 7?h. In conclusion, OBM microparticles based suppository could be used to deliver drug through rectal delivery.     

Texture and Microstructural Evolution in Pearlitic Steel During Triaxial Compression

This article presents the deformation behavior of high-strength pearlitic steel deformed by triaxial compression to achieve ultra-fine ferrite grain size with fragmented cementite. The consequent evolution of microstructure and texture has been studied using scanning electron microscopy, electron back-scatter diffraction, and X-ray diffraction. The synergistic effect of diffusion and deformation leads to the uniform dissolution of cementite at higher temperature. At lower temperature, significant grain refinement of ferrite phase occurs by deformation and exhibits a characteristic deformation texture. In contrast, the high-temperature deformed sample shows a weaker texture with cube component for the ferrite phase, indicating the occurrence of recrystallization. The different mechanisms responsible for the refinement of ferrite as well as the fragmentation of cementite and their interaction with each other have been analyzed. Viscoplastic self-consistent simulation was employed to understand deformation texture in the ferrite phase during triaxial compression.     

A study on port plug distortion caused by narrow gap combined GTAW & SMAW and Electron Beam Welding

A study of port plug distortion resulting from narrow gap combined GTAW & SMAW and Electron Beam Welding was carried out. Thermomechanical finite element analysis of port plug becomes virtually impossible because of the requirement of huge number of nodes and elements. Hence an analysis method based on the concept of inherent strain was used in this work. The computational time required was about 40-50 min only in a Core (TM) 2 Duo, 2.66 GHz computer with 2 GB RAM, which otherwise was not possible with other conventional computation techniques. As was expected the overall distortion due to EB welding was found to be less compared to that of narrow gap GTAW & SMAW.     

Development of mefenamic acid–loaded polymeric microparticles using solvent evaporation and spray-drying technique

Ethyl cellulose (EC) and Eudragit RL-100 (ERL-100) were used for the preparation of sustained released microparticles of mefenamic acid (MFN) by using oil-in-oil (o/o) solvent evaporation as well as spray drying. A Plackett-Burman design was employed using Design-Expert software. The resultant microparticles were characterized for their size, surface morphology, encapsulation efficiency, and drug release. Imaging of microparticles was performed by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The drug and polymer interaction was investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffractometry (XRPD). The microparticles showed encapsulation efficiency in the range of 29.44 to 89.20% by solvent evaporation and 83.73 to 96.69% by spray drying. The surface of the microparticles was smooth, round, and regular, without any erosion and cracking. The size of the microparticles was found to be in the range of 6.55 to 41.1 µm. FTIR analysis confirmed no interaction of MFN with the polymers. XRPD showed the dispersion of the drug within the microparticle formulation. These results helped in finding the optimum formulation variables for encapsulation efficiency (EE) of microparticles.     

Low‐temperature plasma processing for the enhancement of surface properties and dyeability of wool fabric

In the present investigation, wool fabric was treated with a low‐temperature air plasma. The plasma discharge power and treatment time were varied. The effect of plasma treatment on various fabric properties such as wettability, wickability, dyeability, crease recovery angle, breaking strength, and elongation at break was investigated. Surface morphology was studied using SEM micrographs. The fabric became substantially hydrophilic even with a short duration of air plasma treatment of 30 s with improvement in dye uptake and in the rate of dyeing when dyed at a lower temperature. Under these treatment conditions, aging was almost nil in a dry environment, even after 45 days, whereas some aging was observed in a humid (75% relative humidity) environment. A 20% increase in the breaking strength and 24% increase in the elongation at break were observed with reduction in wrinkle recovery angle to 133–144° from 169° for untreated fabric. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43097.