Effect of conversion of functional layout to a cellular layout on the queue time performance: some new insights

Transition from a functional system to a cellular system involves partitioning the machine and part populations. Partitioning the machine population degrades the queue time performance. This paper investigates whether splitting the part population into part families can offset the effect of partitioning the machine population on queue time. Queue times are obtained for both cellular and functional systems through queueing theory for single stage production and by simulation for multistage production under identical factor settings of process time, setup time, batch size and part arrival. Unlike past research, this study identifies certain situations where a cellular system without getting benefits in factor settings outperforms a functional system.     

Convective flow past an accelerated porous plate in rotating system in presence of magnetic field

Investigation on hydromagnetic convective flow of an incompressible homogeneous viscous liquid over an accelerated porous plate with suction/injection is presented using Laplace transform technique. The whole system is in a state of solid body rotation with constant angular velocity about z^′-axis normal to the plate. The boundary conditions of the problem are of physical significance and thus the problem may have some important and interesting characteristic features of hydromagnetic spin up flows. The effects of suction/injection parameter on the velocity field and of Prandtl number on temperature field are graphically shown.     

Comparative thermal performance evaluation of an active solar distillation system

In this paper, thermal models of all types of solar collector‐integrated active solar stills are developed based on basic energy balance equations in terms of inner and outer glass temperatures. In this paper, hourly yield, hourly exergy efficiency, and hourly overall thermal efficiency of active solar stills are evaluated for 0.05 m water depth. All numerical computations had been performed for a typical day in the month of 07 December 2005 for the climatic conditions of New Delhi (28°35′N, 77°12′E, 216 m above MSL). The thermal model of flat‐plate collector integrated with active solar still was validated using the experimental test set‐up results. Total daily yield from active solar still integrated with evacuated tube collector with heat pipe is 4.24 kg m^?2 day^?1, maximum among all other types of active solar stills. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

National trends in prayer use as a coping mechanism for health concerns: Changes from 2002 to 2007.

The objective of this research was to analyze national trends in the use of prayer to cope with health concerns. Data are from the Alternative Medicine Supplement of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2002 (N = 30,080) and 2007 (N = 22,306). We categorized prayer use into 3 groups: never prayed, prayed in the past 12 months, and did not pray in the past 12 months. Chi-square tests and multinomial logistic regressions were performed to analyze prayer use over time. All analyses adjusted for the complex sample design of the NHIS and were conducted in SAS-callable SUDAAN. Recent use (within 12 months) of prayer for health concerns significantly increased from 43% in 2002 to 49% in 2007. After adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic status, health status, and lifestyle behaviors, prayer use was more likely in 2007 than 2002 (adjusted odds ratio = 1.21, 95% CI [1.14, 1.28]). Across time, individuals reporting dental pain were more likely to use prayer to cope compared with those with no pain. The adjusted odds ratios were 1.2 (95% CI [1.09, 1.33]) in 2002 and 1.16 (95% CI [1.03, 1.3]) in 2007. Other predictors of prayer, including gender, race, psychological distress, changing health status, and functional limitations, remained consistent across both time periods. Overall, prayer use for health concerns increased between 2001 and 2007. The escalating positive association between pain and prayer use for health concerns over time suggests that it is critical for mental and physical health treatment providers to be aware of the prevalence of this coping resource. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sustained release optimized formulation of anastrozole-loaded chitosan microspheres: in vitro and in vivo evaluation

The purpose of this study was to develop sustained release formulation of anastrozole-loaded chitosan microspheres for treatment of breast cancer. Chitosan microspheres cross-linked with two different cross-linking agents viz, tripolyphosphate (TPP) and glutaraldehyde (GA) were prepared using single emulsion (w/o) method. A reverse phase HPLC method was developed and used for quantification of drug in microspheres and rat plasma. Influence of cross-linking agents on the properties of chitosan microspheres was extensively investigated. Formulations were characterized for encapsulation efficiency (EE), compatibility of drug with excipients, particle size, surface morphology, swelling capacity, erosion and drug release profile in phosphate buffer pH 7.4. EE varied from 30.4 ± 1.2 to 69.2 ± 3.2% and mean particle size distribution ranged from 72.5 ± 0.5 to 157.9 ± 1.5 μm. SEM analysis revealed smooth and spherical nature of microspheres. TPP microspheres exhibited higher swelling capacity, percentage erosion and drug release compared to GA microspheres. Release of anastrozole (ANS) was rapid up to 4 h followed by slow release status. FTIR analysis revealed no chemical interaction between drug and polymer. DSC analysis indicated ANS trapped in the microspheres existed in amorphous form in polymer matrix. The highest correlation coefficients (R ²) were obtained for Higuchi model, suggesting a diffusion controlled mechanism. There was significant difference in the pharmacokinetic parameters (AUC_0−∞, Kel and t_1/2) when ANS was formulated in the form of microspheres compared to pure drug. This may be attributed to slow release rate of ANS from chitosan microspheres and was detectable in rat plasma up to 48 h which correlates well with the in vitro release data.     

Shear-thinning film on a porous substrate: Stability analysis of a one-sided model

The temporal stability of a Carreau fluid flowing down an inclined porous substrate is considered. A reduced model is derived under the assumption of small permeability which decouples the flow in the liquid layer from the filtration flow in the porous medium and incorporates the effect of the porous medium by means of an effective slip condition at the liquid–solid interface. The slip coefficient in the effective slip condition is a function of the structure, permeability of the porous medium and the rheology of the fluid saturating the porous medium. The effects of shear-thinning rheology and permeability of the substrate on the stability of the film flow system are investigated. This problem gives rise to a generalized eigenvalue formulation which is solved through two approaches. The problem is solved analytically for long waves in the limiting cases of weakly and strongly non-Newtonian behaviors (power-law limit). A numerical investigation is carried out in the general case. The results are shown to agree well for the weakly non-Newtonian limit. Further, the power-law model and the Carreau model agree on a wide range of shear-thinning parameter values for a thin film over a rigid substrate. However, when considering a porous medium, this trend is not observed. The Carreau model gives valid results for the entire range of shear-thinning parameter values for a film over a rigid/porous substrate. The novelty of the present investigation lies in the inclusion of both the effects of bottom permeability and shear-thinning rheology. Both permeability and shear-thinning rheology have a destabilizing effect on the film flow system. The numerical results indicate the correlation between the effects due to shear-thinning properties and permeability. An energy balance analysis performed on the perturbation fields shows that destabilization induced by both shear-thinning and permeability is linked to the viscous shear work rate on the free surface.     

Properties of bacterial cellulose produced in grape medium by native isolate Gluconacetobacter sp

During the production of grape wine, the occurrence of thick leathery pellicle at the air‐liquid interface was found as a contaminant. The pellicle produced was investigated with a view to use as biodegradable polymer. The bacterium that is responsible for the pellicle production was isolated, characterized and identified as Gluconacetobacter sp. Pellicle was produced in pasteurized grape extract as well as in HS medium by the isolated organism in static conditions. The purified film was subjected for Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and C¹³ solid NMR spectroscopy analysis, which confirmed the pellicle to be a cellulosic material. Scanning Electron Micrograph showed ultra fine network structure along with cells. The films were tested for its physicomechanical characters, barrier and thermal properties. The films of 25‐μ thickness showed very high tensile strength (41.158 MPa) and elongation of 0.987 mm. The thermal properties of the films were characterized by Differential scanning calorimetry and Thermo gravimetric analysis. The melt peak temperature was found to be 111.65°C. The percentage of weight loss was found to be 20% at 327.86°C. Barrier properties (oxygen transmission rate and water vapor transmission rate), indicated a high oxygen barrier but low water barrier. This is the first report on the barrier properties of bacterial cellulose from Gluconacetobacter sp. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Mitochondrial membrane potential is a suitable candidate for assessing pollution toxicity in fish

Fish inhabiting polluted estuaries are highly exposed to severe stress characterized by an oxidant-antioxidant imbalance. The aim of the study was to explore the use of stress parameters such as adenosine triphosphate/adenosine diphosphate (ATP/ADP) ratio, mitochondrial membrane potential (?ψm) and total protein expression patterns as biomarkers against oxidant exposures in hepatocytes of Mugil cephalus living in either a contaminated (Test; Ennore) or uncontaminated (Control; Kovalam) estuary. Earlier, the pollutant stress impact was determined through light and electron microscopy studies. The ATP/ADP ratio was measured using high performance liquid chromatography; ?ψm by fluorescent probe 5, 5′, 6, 6′-tetrachloro-1, 1′, 3, 3′-tetraethyl benzimidazolcarbocyanine iodide (JC-1) dye and total protein expression patterns by protein profiling. The preponderance of stress impact was confirmed through microscopy studies that featured cytological alterations, disturbances in the surface morphology and in the cell organelles at the ultrastructural levels. Hepatocytes of test fish demonstrated a decrease in ATP and an increase in ADP and thereby alteration in ATP/ADP ratio (p < 0.05; 20.75%). A significant disturbance (p < 0.05; 26.57%) in ?ψm with a ratio of J-aggregates/JC-1 monomer of 1 was observed for test fish hepatocytes compared to control group with a J-aggregates/JC-1 monomer ratio of 1.5. Quantitative assessment of protein expression levels also revealed enhanced induction of both low and high molecular weight proteins in test fish hepatocytes. The findings highlight the use of these parameters as the highly sensitive biomarkers in response to contaminant exposure compared to the routinely used antioxidant and oxidant stress parameters in biomonitoring programs. Among the measured parameters, the determination of ?ψm may be suggested as a novel candidate as a biomarker because of its greater specificity and rapid quantitative risk assessment of pollutant exposures.     

Shellac-polyamidoamine: Design of a new polymeric carrier material for controlled release application

The development of a pH sensitive, biodegradable polymer from the combination of Shellac (a natural polymer secreted by lac insect) and polyamidoamine (PAA) (a synthetic polymer) yielded a new biocompatible polymer Shellac-PAA in a photopolymerization process. Scanning electron micrograph of Shellac-PAA shows an interesting heterogeneous surface morphology supported with observation of two different melting temperatures obtained from differential scanning calorimetric measurement. The equilibrium swelling properties of the polymeric material was studied as a function of pH and time in buffer solutions similar to that of gastric and intestinal fluids. The controlled release kinetics of a model colon specific drug 5-aminosalicylic acid showed Fickian diffusion behavior. The new polymer is biocompatible, biodegradable and, hence, projected as a new kind of polymer with improved properties, which can be a potential candidate for controlled release of therapeutic agents in colon specific diseases. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Effect of Hydrophobicity of PEO–PPO–PEO Block Copolymers on Micellization and Solubilization of a Model Drug Nimesulide

The present work explored the molecular implications governing the solubilization of a model drug nimesulide (NIM) in micelles of ethylene oxide-propylene oxide (EO–PO) triblock copolymers. The aggregation behavior and solubilization studies on four copolymers each with the same mol mass of central PPO block equal to 2,250 and varying % PEO was examined by means of UV–VIS. Moreover, high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry measurements were used to evaluate the critical micellization temperature. The solubilization at different temperatures (30, 37, 45 °C), pH (2 to 10) and in the presence of added sodium chloride (0–2 M) was monitored and the partition coefficient (P) and the free energy of solubilization (ΔG _s^o) were calculated. The site of solubilization of NIM in micelles was also probed. The NIM solubility decreased with increases in the PEO molecular weight; the drug resides in the micelle core.