Orthonormal basis function fuzzy systems for biological wastewater treatment processes modeling

In this paper, fuzzy models with orthonormal basis functions (OBF) framework are employed for modeling the nonlinear dynamics of biological treatment processes. These models are consisting of a linear part describing the system dynamics (Laguerre filters) followed by a non-linear static part (fuzzy system). The training procedure contains of two main steps: 1) obtaining the optimum time-scale and the order of truncated Laguerre network as the linear part and 2) defining membership functions, corresponding rules and adjusting the consequent parameters of fuzzy system as the nonlinear part. A comparison between the responses of the developed model and the original plant was performed in order to validate the accuracy of the developed model

Formulation development and optimization of palm kernel oil esters-based nanoemulsions containing sodium diclofenac

Malahat Rezaee,1 Mahiran Basri,1,2 Raja Noor Zaliha Raja Abdul Rahman,3 Abu Bakar Salleh,3 Naz Chaibakhsh,4 Roghayeh Abedi Karjiban21Institute of Bioscience, 2Faculty of Science, 3Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; 4Faculty of Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, IranAbstract: Response surface methodology was employed to study the effect of formulation composition variables, water content (60%–80%, w/w) and oil and surfactant (O/S) ratio (0.17–1.33), as well as high-shear emulsification conditions, mixing rate (300–3,000 rpm) and mixing time (5–30 minutes) on the properties of sodium diclofenac-loaded palm kernel oil esters-nanoemulsions. The two response variables were droplet size and viscosity. Optimization of the conditions according to the four variables was performed for preparation of the nanoemulsions with the minimum values of particle size and viscosity. The results showed that the experimental data could be sufficiently fitted into a third-order polynomial model with multiple regression coefficients (R2) of 0.938 and 0.994 for the particle size and viscosity, respectively. Water content, O/S ratio and mixing time, quadrics of all independent variables, interaction between O/S ratio and mixing rate and between mixing time and rate, as well as cubic term of water content had a significant effect (P<0.05) on the particle size of nanoemulsions. The linear effect of all independent variables, quadrics of water content and O/S ratio, interaction of water content and O/S ratio, as well as cubic term of water content and O/S ratio had significant effects (P<0.05) on the viscosity of all nanoemulsions. The optimum conditions for preparation of sodium diclofenac nanoemulsions were predicted to be: 71.36% water content; 0.69 O/S ratio; 950 rpm mixing rate, and 5 minute mixing time. The optimized formulation showed good storage stability in different temperatures.Keywords: response surface methodology, nanoemulsions, palm kernel oil esters, optimization, particle size, viscosit