This study aimed to investigate the compressibility properties of Pioglitazone Hydrochloride (PGZ) oral dispersible tablets using compaction simulator. The tablets were prepared and formulated by direct compression method with varying particle sizes of PGZ in mannitol-based formulations, containing Ludiflash� and its corresponding physical mixture. All formulations were compressed at different compaction forces (5kN � 20kN). Powders were evaluated for their tablet properties, such as hardness, friability, disintegration time, and dissolution rate. Results showed that all formulations exhibited good compressibility properties. The compaction force and choice of excipient played a vital role in formulation performance and drug release profile. With the use of Minitab 19� an optimized formulation was derived, and all predicted output were seen to be within range after evaluations. In conclusion, the combined use of compaction simulator and Minitab 19� were found to be useful tools in predicting the compressibility properties of PGZ and therefore developing a robust oral dispersible tablet. These findings suggest that the compressibility properties of PGZ oral dispersible tablets can be effectively modified by adjusting the critical process parameters (CPP). Hence, providing valuable insights into the compressibility behavior of PGZ oral dispersible tablets and also aiding in the development of optimized tablet formulations.

In this study, it was aimed to develop an orally disintegrating tablet formulation containing Melatonin within the framework of Quality by design approach and to obtain the optimum formula with desirability function approach. Melatonin is a hormone secreted from the pineal gland in humans. Although it is known that it regulates the circadian rhythm, it has been found that it has many benefits in recent studies. First of all, by determining the Quality Target Product Profile, the dosage form and critical quality attributes desired to be studied were determined. Risk assessment was performed using the Failure Mode Effect Analyze Method and critical material properties and critical process parameters were determined. According to the findings, 34 formulations were prepared and tested within the framework of quality by design approach. The optimum formula was developed with the desirability based function methodology approach and optimization studies on MATLAB. Specification tests were applied to the prepared optimum formula and it was checked whether they met the required specifications. The formulation obtained at the end of the study was found to meet specifications. The desirability-based function approach and MATLAB optimization were also seen to be a viable approach for formula developers.

Although snail meat is an important source of protein in terms of human nutrition, it has found a place in the eating and drinking culture of very few communities. Consumption of snail meat is socially accepted in many parts of the Cyprus. It is called as \"Garavolli\" by the Cypriot people and is also one of the most delicious appetizers. This research is important in determining the consumption behavior of the people of the Northern Cyprus and determining their preferences depending on cooking methods. According to the results of this study, 32.7% of the participants do not consume snail meat, while 67.3% of them consume snail meat. It has been observed that 17.8% of snail meat is not consumed due to habits. It is consumed more at home (41.3%), compared to consuming at restaurants (38.1%). And also, it is preferred more when it is freshly picked (25%). While 47% of participants consuming preferred to consume as boiled (with olive oil and vinegar), 3.8% of them preferred to consume as grilled. Finally, it has been determined that only nausea/vomiting (1 participant) and stomach cramps (2 participants) were experienced due to snail meat consumption but the rate of this data was low. The most preferred method of cooking is boiling then dipping it to olive oil and vinegar. As we see from the answers habit directly effect on preference to consume or not to consume the snail meat.

Seizure detection from EEG signal plays important role in diagnosing and treating the Epilepsy disease. Development of Low complexity detection algorithms are needed in order to design efficient automatic epilepsy detection devices. In this paper, an automatic seizure detection algorithm proposed using Discrete Wavelet Transform and Cluster absed Nearest Neighborhood machine learning algorithm. The Electroencephalogram signals decomposed by Daubechies Wavelet transform. Temporal features extracted from decomposed Wavelet sub-bands. The Cluster KNN algorithm implemented for seizure detection. The performance of proposed algorithm is validated by publically available benchmark EEG database. This proposed Classification method obtained 100% accuracy between seizure and normal EEG signals; 98% of accuracy between Inter-ictal and seizure signals, 91% of accuracy between Normal and Inter-ictal signals. This proposed Cluster Nearest Neighbourhood Classifier requires less number of training samples and less number of calculation steps to detect seizure events. The analysis on classification performance between the various frequency bands confirms that, the EEG signal frequency band of 2.6 Hz to 5.5 Hz reveals better classification results in adults. Due to less complexity of algorithm, the proposed algorithm is well suited for hardware implementation of automatic seizure detection systems.

Fossil fuels formed through millions of years is a limited resource as well as the increase of energy usage in the industrialized world accelerate the rapid depletion of fossil fuel, which is not renewable and is associated with pollution problems. Therefore, using renewable energy is a key solution to the problem of fossil fuel depletion. There are several resources of renewable energy like geothermal energy, solar energy, and biofuels. Biodiesel is a fatty acid alkyl ester made from renewable resources such as used cooking oil, and algae. The attractiveness of biodiesel lies in the reduction of the dependency on imported petroleum in non-oil-producing countries and the provision of a market for excess production of vegetable oils in mainly agricultural countries. Biodiesel is produced from its feedstock through the transesterification reaction that was done using methanol as an alcohol and potassium hydroxide as a catalyst. The aim of study is to identify the effect of methanol amount and catalyst concentration on the biodiesel yield. The properties of the produced biodiesel were comparable with ASTM standards.

This study addresses an alternative use of viscous dampers (VDs) associated with buckling restrained braces (BRBs) as the innovative seismic protection devices. For this, 4, 8 and 12-storey steel bare frames were designed with 6.5 m equal span length and 4 m storey height. Thereafter, they were seismically improved by mounting the VDs and BRBs in three patterns, namely outer-bays, inner bays, and all-bays over the frame heights. The structures were modeled using SAP2000 software and evaluated by the nonlinear time history analyses subjected to the six natural near fault accelerograms (1976 Gazlı, 1978 Tabas, 1987 Superstition Hills, 1992 Cape Mendocino, 1994 Northridge and 1999 Chi-Chi). The seismic responses of the structures were investigated for the lateral displacement, interstorey drift, absolute acceleration, maximum base shear, and time history of roof displacement. The results clearly indicated that the VDs and BRBs reduced the lateral displacement by about 80 and 70%, respectively compared to the bare frame. Moreover, the all-bay system outperformed than the outer-bay pattern by about 8 to 11%.

Abstract–Annual Medicago species play a crucial agronomic role in the dryland agriculture regions of the world. They have potential as annual forages. Owing to their capacity for symbiotic nitrogen fixation, these plants are often used in improving soil fertility and especially soil nitrogen content. Medicago species are also used in medicine, and as source of industrial enzymes in biotechnology. This review provides a comprehensive overview on the effects of drought on growth of Medic plants. It then explores some tolerance traits of Medicago plants to drought including the conservation of photosynthetic and membrane integrity, the preferential root development, the increase in water use efficiency and the decrease in osmotic potential through the accumulation of inorganic or organic solute. Molecular response of Medicago plants to drought was also highlighted. Drought restricted growth of Medic plants. A large inter and intraspecific variability was highlighted. Medic drought tolerance was found to be associated to one or more traits such as the highest aptitude to preserve photosynthetic parameters, a preferential development of roots, In addition to the highest water use efficiency values (WUE), a pronounced decrease of osmotic potential and the accumulation of mineral (K+) or organic solutes such as proline, a modification in carbohydrate metabolism via soluble sugars accumulation. Water deficit stress induces a lipid and protein metabolism adaptation via the accumulation of some amino acids and the decrease in MDA concentrations.

In this paper, we present a novel variety of third order finite difference weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO ) scheme based on WENO-ZQ scheme to approximate the computational solutions of one- and two-dimensional non-linear hyperbolic conservation laws. The new reconstruction process of fluxes is the convex combination of a second degree polynomial and two linear polynomials. This novel third order WENO scheme applies three points data\\ $\\{x_{i-1},x_i,x_{i+1}\\}$ same as WENO-JS3 and WENO-Z3 schemes. In the proposed scheme, the main advantages are that the associated linear weights can be taken as any positive numbers on condition their summation is one. Also, it is easy to be used in multi-dimensional engineering problems. We implement the time discretization by using third order accurate strong stability preserving Runge-Kutta method. The extensive computational experiments of a collection of benchmark test problems are provided to demonstrate high resolution, robustness and absolute truncation errors in $L_1$ and $L_{\\infty}$ norms. We observe from the results that the new scheme contains better capability in performance than WENO-PZ3 scheme.