Stalk Strenght and Sugar Content of 55 Dual-Purpose Sorghum Inbreds

In 2012, sorghum was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an “advanced” bioenergy feedstock in cases where both the grain and stover are both used for energy production (USEPA, 2012). It is desirable, therefore, to develop taller varieties of sorghum to increase biomass yields. However the taller the plant gets, the more susceptible it becomes to lodging, reducing grain yield in the end. Additionally the ability to characterize the storage stability of new sorghum varieties in terms of moisture content and free sugars content is advantageous. In this study, high throughput assays to characterize stalk strength based on rind penetrometer resistance (RPR) and sugar content based on an enzymatic assay of new varieties of sorghum were demonstrated. RPR measurements and estimates of glucose and sucrose contents of the leaves and the stalks were conducted on 40 dwarf grain sorghum inbreds and 15 photoperiod sensitive sorghum inbreds. Results showed stalk strengths of dwarf grain sorghum ranged from 2.43 to 7.72 kgf while those of photoperiod sensitive sorghum ranged from 2.72 to 10.50 kgf. Dwarf grain sorghum contained 0.1% to 6.9% and 0.3% to 3% glucose in stalks and leaves; 0 to 15% and 0 to 6.5% sucrose in stalks and leaves, respectively. Photoperiod sensitive sorghum contained 0.6% to 12% and 0.3 to 1.7% glucose in stalks and leaves, while sucrose levels in stalks and leaves were 0.3% to 17% and 0 to 3.1%, respectively. These results provide a framework for stalk quality assessment in selecting inbreds with stronger and higher free sugar content

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF CHRONOMODULATED PULSATILE THERAPEUTIC SYSTEM FOR EARLY MORNING SURGE IN BLOOD PRESSURE

Objective: The objective of this study was to design and developed a rupturable coating type of pulsatile press coated tablet, which releases drug early in the morning hours. This delivery system was helpful to control an early morning surge in Blood Pressure because cardiovascular events occur more frequently in the morning. This delivery system would be useful for the prevention of cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients.Methods: Initially core tablet was prepared by using Captopril HCl as a model drug, which is having Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition activity and different concentration of cross carmellose sodium as a superdisintegrant by the direct compression method. Core tablet was press coated by using HPMC K4M and Ethyl Cellulose in different ratios as a press coating polymers.Results: Core tablet was evaluated for different evaluation parameters and the formulation which shows least disintegration time has been selected for further study. Dissolution profiles clearly indicate that Captopril released from the press-coated tablet depends on the amount of an HPMC/EC ratio used.Conclusion: From in-vitro dissolution study it was concluded that the lag time decreases with increase in concentration of HPMC K4M. When the concentration of hydrophilic polymer was increased, i.e. HPMC K4M, hydration property of the system increases, causing more rapid dissolution or rupturing of the external shell resulting in the reduction in lag time.Â

Stalk Strenght and Sugar Content of 55 Dual-Purpose Sorghum Inbreds

In 2012, sorghum was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an “advanced” bioenergy feedstock in cases where both the grain and stover are both used for energy production (USEPA, 2012). It is desirable, therefore, to develop taller varieties of sorghum to increase biomass yields. However the taller the plant gets, the more susceptible it becomes to lodging, reducing grain yield in the end. Additionally the ability to characterize the storage stability of new sorghum varieties in terms of moisture content and free sugars content is advantageous. In this study, high throughput assays to characterize stalk strength based on rind penetrometer resistance (RPR) and sugar content based on an enzymatic assay of new varieties of sorghum were demonstrated. RPR measurements and estimates of glucose and sucrose contents of the leaves and the stalks were conducted on 40 dwarf grain sorghum inbreds and 15 photoperiod sensitive sorghum inbreds. Results showed stalk strengths of dwarf grain sorghum ranged from 2.43 to 7.72 kgf while those of photoperiod sensitive sorghum ranged from 2.72 to 10.50 kgf. Dwarf grain sorghum contained 0.1% to 6.9% and 0.3% to 3% glucose in stalks and leaves; 0 to 15% and 0 to 6.5% sucrose in stalks and leaves, respectively. Photoperiod sensitive sorghum contained 0.6% to 12% and 0.3 to 1.7% glucose in stalks and leaves, while sucrose levels in stalks and leaves were 0.3% to 17% and 0 to 3.1%, respectively. These results provide a framework for stalk quality assessment in selecting inbreds with stronger and higher free sugar content

Parametric study of optical and thermal efficiency of solar cooker

Mathematical model has been developed that gives insight in the performance of box-type solar cooker in terms of incident and absorbed solar radiation. Effect of incidence angle of sun rays on the performance of various components has been analyzed to compute the optical and thermal efficiency of the cooker. The design of cooker has been optimized, by understanding the modes of absorption of solar energy by various cooker components. The air gap between the absorber plate and the vessel base that acts as a resistance to the conductive heat transfer coefficient was estimated. Heat transfer coefficient between vessel and the absorber plate for various contact mediums has been estimated and the heating performance was also compared. Computational results have been validated experimentally. It has been observed that the optical and thermal efficiencies were enhanced by 9 and 10%, respectively. Water as the contacting medium gives the highest thermal efficiency

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY & LIFE SCIENCES RP-HPLC simultaneous estimation of metronidazole and diloxanide furoate in combination

Abstract A reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of diloxanide furoate and metronidazole in formulation. The separation was achieved by octadecyl C8 column and a mixture of methanol: acetonitrite: 0.05M phosphate buffer at pH 4.0 (45:25:30 v/v) as eluent, at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. detection was carried out at 277 nm. Quantitation was done by external standard method. The retention time of metronidazole and diloxanide furoate was found to be 3.28 and 6.42 min, respectively. The method has validated for linearity, accuracy and precision. Linearity of metronidazole and diloxanide furoate were in the range of 5-50 µg/ml for both the drugs The mean recoveries obtained for metronidazole and diloxanide furoate were100.01% and 99.71%, respectively. The developed method was found to be accurate, precise, selective and rapid for the simultaneous estimation of metronidazole and diloxanide furoate in tablet

Development of efficient designs of cooking systems. II. Computational fluid dynamics and optimization

Sections 2-6 of Part I were devoted to the analysis of heat transfer characteristics of cookers. In all the experiments, only water was employed as a working medium. Now, we extend such an analysis to the actual cooking process in order to arrive at an improved cooking device. The major strategies for the optimization of energy utilization is to design appropriate insulation that has been obtained by two cover vessels. In order to select an air gap, the flow and temperature patterns in the air gap have been extensively analyzed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The flow pattern and heat transfer in cooking pots have also been analyzed by CFD. This has enabled us to design suitable internals for minimizing the stratification of temperature. The understanding of fluid mechanics has also given basis for selection of heat flux, gap between burner tip and cooker bottom, and temperature of flue gases leaving the cooker. Chemical engineering principles have been used for modeling and optimization. Kinetics have been obtained in batch cookers. The knowledge of kinetics, thermal mixing, axial mixing, and optimum selection of insulation have been employed for the development of continuous cookers. The continuous mode of operation also helps in saving of energy. Systematic data have been collected for the design and scale up of continuous cookers. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Development of efficient designs of cooking systems. I. Experimental

In the conventional cooking practice, where a pot or a pan is directly placed on a flame, the thermal energy efficiency is in the range of 10-25%. It was thought desirable to increase this efficiency up to 60% or more. The cooking systems can be of various sizes. In the developing world (85% of the worlds population), open pan cooking is largely still practiced at the family level (4-10 people) or at the community level (50-2000 people or more). The latter requirement is encountered in schools, homes for senior citizens, jails, social and/or religious centers (temples, mosques, churches), social and/or educational functions (conferences, marriages, celebrations, etc.), remand homes, etc. For these different types of final application, in the present work, cooking systems have been developed. A systematic work has has been reported regarding the effect of several parameters on thermal efficiency. The parameters include the cooker size, number of pots, size and aspect ratio of the pots, heat flux, flame size, flux-time relationship, insulating alternatives, etc. Local and global optima of the parameters have been obtained, resulting in thermal efficiency of about 70%. © 2011 American Chemical Society