Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and Validation of Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for In-vitro Dissolution Testing of Bilastine and Montelukast Sodium Tablets

The objective of this experimental work is to develop and validate a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method, which is capable of quantitative estimation of Bilastine (BLS) and Montelukast (MTK) content present in dissolution media accurately and precisely. A simple, fast, specific, rugged, and reproducible analytical method was developed and validated on a Shimadzu Highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. A Hypersil BDS C18-Column (100 mm x 4.6mm, 3 µm) and 0.1%v/v Triethylamine buffer (pH-3.0): Acetonitrile used as mobile phase with flow rate 1.0 mL/min in gradient mode. The column oven temperature and sample cooler temperature were set to 40°C and 25°C, respectively. The injection volume was 10 µL, and chromatograms were recorded at 220 nm. The run time for 1 sample analysis was 13 minutes. The optimized conditions for dissolution testing include USP type-II apparatus at 75 rpm with 900 mL, 0.5% w/v sodium lauryl sulfate media at 37.0 ± 0.5°C and collected after 45 minutes. Under the above conditions, the retention time (RT) of Bilastine and Montelukast was 1.84 and 7.23 minutes, respectively, without any interference of dissolution media or any other degradant at the RT of both drugs. The calibration curve was linear with R2 value of 0.99984 and 0.99988 for BLS and MTK, respectively. The sample was found stable in dissolution media beyond 12 hours. The analytical method was validated as per International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines with respect to specificity, precision, linearity, accuracy, stability in aqueous solution, and robustness. The proposed method was found useful for the routine analysis of dissolution samples for quality control purposes.
Implementation of a No Pulse Competition CPS-SPWM Technique Based on the Concentrated Control for Cascaded Multilevel DSTATCOMs

Digital signal processor (DSP) and field programmable gate array (FPGA) based concentrated control systems are designed for implementing CPS-SPWM strategies. The self-defined universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) protocol is used for communication between a master controller and an individual module controller via high speed links. Aimed at undesired pulse competition, this paper analyzes its generation mechanism and presents a new method for eliminating competition pulses with no time delay. Finally, the proposed concentrated controller is applied to a 10kV/10MVar distribution static synchronous compensator (DSTATCOM) industrial prototype. Experimental results show the accuracy and reliability of the concentrated controller, and verify the superiority of the proposed elimination method for competition pulses.
The design of high dynamic range continuous-time integratable bandpass filters

A method to design integratable continuous-time analog high-Q bandpass filters with a prescribed dynamic range is developed. The theory accompanying this method shows the fundamental restrictions for the dynamic range. The theory is meant to determine beforehand if the desired dynamic range is realizable. The possibilities of using dynamic range optimal filter networks are discussed. The usefulness of the theories is shown by the design of a complete bandpass filter, up to the transistor level. >
Sulking behavior and the emergence of hurt feelings in young children

When do hurt feelings develop? The emotion of feeling hurt is vital for close relationships because it signals that one has been devalued illegitimately, potentially eliciting guilt and the motivation to repair in the partner. We approached the question of when hurt feelings develop by studying the emergence of sulking behavior as an indicator of hurt feelings. In an online-questionnaire study, parents and teachers hypothesized that children begin to sulk during the first 3 years (N = 125). In a cross-sectional event-based diary study, parents observed their 1-to 8-year-old children (N = 40). We found that the youngest child sulked at 20 months of age and that the probability of sulking was at 50%forachildat25months.Finally,weconductedalongitu-dinal event-based diary study where parents observed their children from 16 months on until they sulked for the first time and, at the longest
Does the immigration issue divide the left’s attitudes towards social welfare? A study on public support of social benefits and services in the Nordic countries

PurposeThe paper presents a study on whether citizens’ immigration attitudes shape their attitudes towards social welfare in three Nordic countries.Design/methodology/approachThe main analysis was performed using linear regression analysis. Data were retrieved from the eighth round of the European Social Survey (2016). The data cover the Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish respondents (N = 5,021). FindingsThe analyses indicate that citizens’ immigration attitudes are associated with their social welfare attitudes. The more positive the attitudes towards immigration are, the more positive the attitudes toward social welfare will be. Further, people in the political Left have more positive attitudes towards social welfare compared to those in the political Right; but, the immigration issue is more divisive of the political Left’s opinion than that of the Right.Research limitations/implicationsPublic opinion research has its limitations because behind an individual’s opinion there are many hidden factors. An individual may also have different opinions depending on the dimensions of the welfare state.Social implicationsIf the immigration issue reduces the support for social welfare among the political Left, it may reduce the legitimacy of the Nordic social policy because the support of the political Left has traditionally been in favour of the universal principles of the welfare state.Originality/valueThe association of the immigration issue and social welfare attitudes has been broadly studied; but, the interaction of the immigration issue and political opinion on social welfare attitudes is less studied.
Large-Scale Low-Speed Facility for Investigating Intermediate Turbine Duct Flows

This paper presents the design of a large-scale, low-speed experimental facility for the investigation of the flow in intermediate turbine ducts. For the design, classical low-speed wind tunnel design procedures were used and CFD calculations were performed. In order to generate realistic inlet conditions (i.e. incoming unsteady wakes), a high-pressure turbine stage was designed and placed upstream of the intermediate duct.
Early childhood teachers’ specialised knowledge to promote algebraic thinking as from a task of additive decomposition (El conocimiento especializado del profesor de educación infantil para fomentar el pensamiento algebraico a partir de una tarea de descomposición aditiva)

ABSTRACT In this article we aim to deepen our understanding of the content and nature of the early childhood teacher’s knowledge, focusing on those aspects which might promote students’ algebraic thinking. Approaching arithmetic from the viewpoint of algebra as an advanced perspective and considering the analytical model Mathematics Teachers’ Specialised Knowledge, we analyse the specialised knowledge in a classroom of five-year-olds handled by an experienced teacher in a lesson on the decomposition of the number 6. Moreover, alternative management of the session is proposed in order to promote early algebraic thinking. In the domain of mathematical knowledge, this analysis has revealed the specificity of the knowledge that this professional must have of the natural number. In the domain of pedagogical content knowledge, it has highlighted the many elements of the knowledge of mathematics teaching that should be possessed to promote algebraic thinking at this educational stage. These elements appear to be more closely related to a profound knowledge of the mathematics taught than to pedagogical knowledge of a more general nature.
Kinetics and Transesterification of the Oil Obtained from <i>Cussonia bateri</i> (Jansa Seed) as a Step in Biodiesel Production Using Natural Heterogeneous Catalyst

The ongoing search for a more sustainable, renewable, and affordable fuel source has necessitated the quest and search for a better diesel. Biodiesel, an environmentally friendly diesel, has been able to solve many of the issues that have arisen as a result of the use of fossil fuels. They are mostly synthesized by transesterification of a FFA with an alcohol employing an appropriate catalyst. This study examines the use of jansa seed oil as a low-cost feedstock for biodiesel production. Transesterification of free fatty acids (FFA) with methanol and ethanol catalyzed by snail shell was used to process the biodiesel. In the biodiesel production, the alcohol to oil molar ratio was 12:1, the catalyst amount was 0.75 g, and the reaction temperature was 65°C. The reversible second-order reaction rate was used to characterize the kinetics of FFA transesterification. Kinetic modeling of the biodiesel production process was also carried out in order to determine the sequence of the reaction and estimate the reaction rate constant. The activation energy of the ethyl ester was higher than that of the methyl ester, implying that the ethyl ester would require more energy (slower reaction rate) to activate a molecule for chemical transformation. The reusability of the catalyst for continuous transesterfication runs was investigated under the same operating conditions, and the conversion of the catalyst declined from 99.6 percent to 86.4 percent after the fifth regeneration cycle. Jansa seed oil has the potential to be a valuable raw source for generating fatty oil for the use as an alternate feedstock in the production of biodiesel.
DEVELOPMENT, EVALUATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF WHEELCHAIR SEAT CUSHION TESTING STANDARDS

ABSTRACTThe International Organization of Standardization (ISO) has developed test protocols that quantify the physical and mechanical characteristics of wheelchair seat cushions that are considered relevant to their influence on tissue integrity (ISO16840-2). The draft standard contains a total of nine test methods, of which we have focused on four tests, namely recovery, load-deflection and hysteresis, lateral and forward stiffness, loaded contour depth and overload deflection.The first goal of this study was development of the recovery test protocol. Recovery characterizes the short-term (25sec) and long-term (20min) resilient tendencies of a cushion. The test was repeated three times on three sets of eight cushions. The same sets of cushions were tested by two other laboratories to verify protocol reproducibility. The test had high intra-lab repeatability, but low inter-lab reproducibility. The reproducibility is affected mainly due to the high sensitivity of the test. The results also suggested that the long-term recovery test be converted to a pass or fail binary test.The goal of the second part of the study was to implement these tests and to evaluate their reliability by analyzing their repeatability and ability to differentiate between the cushions. Each test was run on a set of 21 commercially available cushions. Reliability and repeatability was evaluated using the ICC (intra class correlation coefficient) and RC (repeatability coefficient). The load-deflection and hysteresis characterizes the cushions' hysteresis at 8N, 250N and 500N. The 250N value was the most reliable measure. The lateral and forward stiffness test measures the peak and 60sec force required to displace the cushion indenter by 10mm. The test showed high reliability. The loaded contour depth (LCD) and overload deflection test measures the cushions' depth of immersion in loaded (135N) and overloaded (180N) states. The LCD test was also highly reliable. However, lack of variability for the overload test suggests that it be converted into a binary test, to check if the cushion has bottomed out or not. The recovery test displayed high intra-lab repeatability, but its reliability is questionable due to its poor ability to distinguish between cushions. Overall, the test results suggest that time interval between replications should be increased to atleast 30mins to reduce the potential of a systematic trend between readings. The RC can be used as a precision statement for each test, thus giving us a baseline for acceptable variations between its replications. In order to validate these tests completely, we need to establish inter-lab reproducibility, conduct research to investigate the clinical resolution for each test and clinically validate these test parameters.
Programas e intervenciones educativas ofrecidas al personal farmacéutico para mejorar la prestación de los servicios asistenciales farmacéuticos: una revisión estructurada

Objetivo: Describir los programas y las intervenciones educativas ofrecidas al personal farmacéutico para mejorar la prestación de los servicios asistenciales farmacéuticos, y los métodos utilizados para evaluar la efectividad de estos programas. Métodos: Se realizó una revisión estructurada utilizando la base de datos PubMed/Medline entre de 2007 y 2019, sobre el desarrollo, la descripción, la evaluación del impacto, la efectividad o la comparación de una intervención educativa, un entrenamiento específico o un programa educativo dirigido al personal farmacéutico de farmacias comunitarias (ambulatorias) y/o hospitalarias. Resultados: En total 1070 referencias bibliográficas fueron identificadas, además, se incluyeron 26 referencias identificadas por otras fuentes, y se seleccionaron 90 artículos para su revisión y análisis. Se encontró que el 70% (63) de los estudios fueron desarrollados en países desarrollados, principalmente en Estados Unidos, Australia, Canadá e Inglaterra. El 67% (60) de los estudios se realizaron a nivel ambulatorio, el 10% (9) a nivel hospitalario, y el 23% (21) en ambos contextos. Se encontró que las intervenciones fueron clasificadas en tres categorías: entrenamientos específicos (41%), programas de Educación Continua (43%) y de Desarrollo Profesional Continuo (16%). La metodología o métodos de suministro de la intervención más común fue la presencial en el 72% (65) de los estudios, seguido de metodologías apoyadas de herramientas virtuales en el 28% (25) y en el 11% (10) de los estudios combinaron métodos presenciales y virtuales. El tiempo de duración de las intervenciones educativas vario entre menos de 1 hora a 120 horas. Conclusión: Se describen los programas y las intervenciones educativas ofrecidas al personal farmacéutico principalmente para mejorar sus competencias laborales y la prestación de los servicios asistenciales farmacéuticos, además de los métodos utilizados para evaluar la efectividad de las intervenciones educativas.
A multi-objective optimization framework for an inspection planning problem under uncertainty and breakdown

Quality inspection in multistage production systems (MPSs) has become an issue and this is because the MPS presents various possibilities for inspection. The problem of finding the best inspection plan is an “inspection planning problem”. The main simultaneous decisions in an inspection planning problem in a MPS are: 1) which quality characteristics need to be inspected, 2) what type of inspection should be performed for the selected quality characteristics, 3) where these inspections should be performed, and 4) how the inspections should be performed. In addition, lack of information about production processes and several environmental factors has become an important issue that imposes a degree of uncertainty to the inspection planning problem. This research provides an optimization framework to plan an inspection process in a MPS, wherein, input parameters are uncertain and inspection tools and production machines are subject to breakdown. This problem is formulated through several mixed-integer mathematical programming models with the objectives of minimizing total manufacturing cost, maximizing customer satisfaction, and minimizing total production time. Furthermore, Taguchi and Monte Carlo methods are applied to cope with the uncertainties. Due to the complexity of the proposed models, meta-heuristic algorithms are employed to find optimal or near-optimal solutions. Finally, this research implements the findings and methods of the inspection planning problem in another application as hub location problem. General and detail concluding remarks are provided for both inspection and hub location problems.
Influence of sluice gate contraction coefficient on distinguishing condition

Sluice gates are widely used for flow control in open channels. Flow through the gate may be free or submerged depending on tailwater depth. One may determine whether the flow will be free or submerged by determining the maximum tailwater level that permits free flow. This is called the distinguishing condition. This paper derives a theoretical equation for the distinguishing condition including the contraction coefficient as a parameter, based on the basic equations for free flow and the hydraulic jump. The equation is investigated using experimental data from two different gate types. The results show that the contraction coefficient varies with gate type and that this affects the distinguishing condition. The results also show that for a given upstream depth, tainter gates (radial gates) are less likely to become submerged than vertical gates due to larger contraction coefficients. The present study results are useful in the design and operation of sluice gates.
The clinically relevant diabetic foot syndrome morphology

Objective: to evaluate the morphological changes in diabetic foot syndrome emphasizing the ultrastructural cellular changes.Material and methods. Biopsies of the chronic lesions in 120 diabetic foot patients following necessary preparatory stages were studied by histological, histochemical and electron microscopy methods.Results. The inflammatory infiltration and destruction and involving all layers of skin and soft tissue, the phenomena of vacuolation, apoptosis or karyolysis; tissue edema, diffuse infiltration by neutrophils, vascular plethora with stasis, thrombosis, and necrosis were observed. Microcirculatory tract thrombosis exacerbated tissue ischemia, contributing to the progression of pathology. The macrophages' cytoplasm characterized by the presence of phagocytosed and digested microorganisms often intact inside them. The changes in the status of nuclear and perinuclear material were accompanied by compression and dehydration of the cell, which ended in its fragmentation and the formation of tightly contacting bodies of various shapesConclusions. Morphological changes in diabetic foot syndrome are diverse and uneven, occurring not only on tissue and cellular level but involves subcellular and molecular structures, encouraging further research in this field. Foci of destruction and lysis of the newly formed epithelium are characteristic for diabetic foot, which is not observed in the normal wound process.
ddop: A python package for data-driven operations management

In today’s fast-paced world, companies face considerable uncertainty when making important decisions in operations management, for example, when deciding upon capacity, inventory levels, transportation, and production schedules. However, with the rise of digitization, companies have gained unprecedented access to data related to their particular decision problem, offering the opportunity to reduce the degree of uncertainty. For example, in inventory management the decision maker may have access to historical demand data as well as additional side information, such as social media data, customer behaviour, weather forecasts or calendar data. Driven by the availability of such rich data sources there has recently emerged a stream of literature in operations management research called “data-driven operations management” (DDOM). The focus of DDOM is to combine machine learning and traditional optimization techniques to prescribe cost optimal decisions directly from data. Various models have been developed and shown great performance on the dataset used. However, what is missing is efficient access to open-source code and datasets. With ddop, we provide a Python library that integrates well-established algorithms form the field of data-driven operations management, as well as standard benchmark datasets. Thus, ddop helps researchers in two ways:
Fuzzy Overall Equipment Effectiveness (FOEE): capturing performance fluctuations through LR Fuzzy numbers

The paper focuses on the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), a performance indicator that is extensively used in the industry. The aim is to extend the capabilities of the OEE, so as to capture the day-to-day fluctuations to which manufacturing performances are subjected. To this aim, manufacturing losses are decomposed into elementary causes and modelled as LR fuzzy numbers. Next, in order to compute the Fuzzy Overall Equipment Effectiveness (FOEE), single losses are aggregated using the ‘fuzzy transformation model’. This approach limits the fuzzy overestimation phenomenon and assures both results’ accuracy and robustness. An industrial application, part of a lean project carried on by an important Italian manufacturing firm, is finally presented. Results are encouraging, since the FOEE made it possible to trace back the share of the overall fluctuations that is ascribable to each cause of loss. In this way, it provided the basis for setting improvement priorities and directed the lean team toward the selection of appropriate corrective actions.
Laser Processing by Using Fluidic Laser Beam Shaper

Laser beam shaping techniques are important to optimize a large number of laser-material processing applications and laser-material interaction studies. The authors have developed a novel fluidic laser beam shaper (FLBS) with merits such as flexiblility, versatility and low cost. This work presents a fundamentally new approach for laser beam shaping by using FLBS. A Gaussian beam profile is transformed to a flat top beam and annular beam profile in the focal plane. The shaped laser beam is used for laser drilling to investigate the influence of the laser intensity profile in laser processing. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research and potential applications for further the work.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Weather impact assessment and development of prediction model for yield loss in chilli anthracnose patho-system

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the major spices grown in India occupying 781.74 thousand ha of land with the production of 1808.01 mt. The productivity estimated was 2.31 tha-1 during 2018-19 (FAOSTAT, 2019). India is leading in chilli production and export contributing approximately 43.26 per cent of world’s total chilli production (FAOSTAT, 2019) followed by China. Chilli growing states of the country represent both tropical and sub-tropical regions. It plays an important role to make Indian cuisine popular all over the world for its flavor, aroma and pungency. Besides being a taste maker chilli is an economically important crop of its medicinal and nutritional value.