FABRICATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF NOVEL GLIPIZIDE SUSTAINED RELEASE MATRICES FOR SOLUBILITY AND DISSOLUTION ENHANCEMENT BY SOLID DISPERSION THROUGH HYDROPHILLIC CARRIERS

The present research work was to improve the dissolution rate of glipizide which belongs to BCS II drug by enhancing its aqueous solubility using different hydrophilic carriers like PEG 6000 and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose E15 (HPMC E15). The solid dispersion was embedded into the matrix of polymers to sustain the release pattern of drug. The various solid dispersion formulations were prepared by employing fusion method using different carriers. Further solid dispersion formulations were subjected to different in-vitro evaluation tests for solubility, drug content uniformity, drug-polymer interaction, DSC study and in-vitro drug release study. Tablets were prepared by direct compression method and evaluated for various physical parameters. A direct compression method using response surface methodology, followed by optimization of the evaluated parameters was employed to get the final optimized formulation. The results of drug content uniformity showed the uniform dispersion of glipizide in solid dispersion formulations. The DSC endothermic peak at 216.08°C due to glipizide was partially and completely disappeared in solid dispersion formulation indicating that drug was completely dispersed in formulations. In-vitro drug release showed 80.35% in 60 minutes for the best solid dispersion formulation S3 (ratio 1:3). Among all the formulations, F4 shows 92.87% better sustained release at the end of 12 hrs. The release co-efficient values ‘n’ (Ë‚0.5) indicated that the drug release followed fickian diffusion mechanism based on formulation factors. The stability studies were carried out according to ICH guideline and result found of selected formulation was stable.Keywords: Glipizide, Solid dispersion, Xanthan gum, MatricesÂ

Composite excitation of Josephson phase and spin waves in Josephson junctions with ferromagnetic insulator

Coupling of Josephson-phase and spin-waves is theoretically studied in a superconductor/ferromagnetic insulator/superconductor (S/FI/S) junction. Electromagnetic (EM) field inside the junction and the Josephson current coupled with spin-waves in FI are calculated by combining Maxwell and Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations. In the S/FI/S junction, it is found that the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic shows two resonant peaks. Voltages at the resonant peaks are obtained as a function of the normal modes of EM field, which indicates a composite excitation of the EM field and spin-waves in the S/FI/S junction. We also examine another type of junction, in which a nonmagnetic insulator (I) is located at one of interfaces between S and FI. In such a S/I/FI/S junction, three resonant peaks appear in the I-V curve, since the Josephson-phase couples to the EM field in the I layer.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Children's daily travel to school in Johannesburg-Soweto, South Africa: geography and school choice in the Birth to Twenty cohort study

This paper has two aims: to explore approaches to the measurement of children’s daily travel to school in a context of limited geospatial data availability, and to provide data regarding school choice and distance travelled to school in Soweto-Johannesburg, South Africa. The paper makes use of data from the Birth to Twenty cohort study (n=1428) to explore three different approaches to estimating school choice and travel to school. Firstly, straight-line distance between home and school is calculated. Secondly, census geography is used to determine whether a child's home and school fall in the same area. Thirdly, distance data are used to determine whether a child attends the nearest school. Each of these approaches highlights a different aspect of mobility, and all provide valuable data. Overall, primary school aged children in Soweto-Johannesburg are shown to be travelling substantial distances to school on a daily basis. Over a third travel more than 3km, one-way, to school, 60% attend schools outside of the suburb in which they live, and only 18% attend their nearest school. These data provide evidence for high levels of school choice in Johannesburg-Soweto, and that families and children are making substantial investments in pursuit of high quality educational opportunities. Additionally, these data suggest that two patterns of school choice are evident: one pattern involving travel of substantial distances and requiring a higher level of financial investment, and a second pattern, involving choice between more local schools, requiring less travel and a more limited financial investment

Breadwinners and Homemakers: Migration and Changing Conjugal Expectations in Rural Bangladesh

The literature on marriage norms and aspirations across societies largely sees the institution as static – a tool for the assertion of masculinities and subordination of women. The changing meanings of marriage and conjugality in the contemporary context of globalisation have received scant attention. Based on research in rural Bangladesh, this article questions the usefulness of notions of autonomy and dependence in understanding conjugal relations and expectations in a context of widespread migration for extended periods, especially to overseas destinations, where mutuality is crucial for social reproduction, though in clearly genderdemarcated domains

Human rights and community work. Complementary theories and practices

Much effort has been placed on developing international understandings of human rights without the corresponding attention to responsibilities. The authors argue that a community development framework may be useful in re-conceiving human rights in a more holistic way, and that social workers and community development workers are well placed to be 'grass roots human rights workers

The internal brakes on violent escalation:a typology

Most groups do less violence than they are capable of. Yet while there is now an extensive literature on the escalation of or radicalisation towards violence, particularly by ‘extremist’ groups or actors, and while processes of de-escalation or de-radicalisation have also received significant attention, processes of non- or limited escalation have largely gone below the analytical radar. This article contributes to current efforts to address this limitation in our understanding of the dynamics of political aggression by developing a descriptive typology of the ‘internal brakes’ on violent escalation: the mechanisms through which members of the groups themselves contribute to establish and maintain limits upon their own violence. We identify five underlying logics on which the internal brakes operate: strategic, moral, ego maintenance, outgroup definition, and organisational. The typology is developed and tested using three very different case studies: the transnational and UK jihadi scene from 2005 to 2016; the British extreme right during the 1990s, and the animal liberation movement in the UK from the mid-1970s until the early 2000s

How do you say ‘hello’? Personality impressions from brief novel voices

On hearing a novel voice, listeners readily form personality impressions of that speaker. Accurate or not, these impressions are known to affect subsequent interactions; yet the underlying psychological and acoustical bases remain poorly understood. Furthermore, hitherto studies have focussed on extended speech as opposed to analysing the instantaneous impressions we obtain from first experience. In this paper, through a mass online rating experiment, 320 participants rated 64 sub-second vocal utterances of the word ‘hello’ on one of 10 personality traits. We show that: (1) personality judgements of brief utterances from unfamiliar speakers are consistent across listeners; (2) a two-dimensional ‘social voice space’ with axes mapping Valence (Trust, Likeability) and Dominance, each driven by differing combinations of vocal acoustics, adequately summarises ratings in both male and female voices; and (3) a positive combination of Valence and Dominance results in increased perceived male vocal Attractiveness, whereas perceived female vocal Attractiveness is largely controlled by increasing Valence. Results are discussed in relation to the rapid evaluation of personality and, in turn, the intent of others, as being driven by survival mechanisms via approach or avoidance behaviours. These findings provide empirical bases for predicting personality impressions from acoustical analyses of short utterances and for generating desired personality impressions in artificial voices

Josephson Coupling and Fiske Dynamics in Ferromagnetic Tunnel Junctions

We report on the fabrication of Nb/AlO_x/Pd_{0.82}Ni_{0.18}/Nb superconductor/insulator/ferromagnetic metal/superconductor (SIFS) Josephson junctions with high critical current densities, large normal resistance times area products, high quality factors, and very good spatial uniformity. For these junctions a transition from 0- to \pi-coupling is observed for a thickness d_F ~ 6 nm of the ferromagnetic Pd_{0.82}Ni_{0.18} interlayer. The magnetic field dependence of the \pi-coupled junctions demonstrates good spatial homogeneity of the tunneling barrier and ferromagnetic interlayer. Magnetic characterization shows that the Pd_{0.82}Ni_{0.18} has an out-of-plane anisotropy and large saturation magnetization, indicating negligible dead layers at the interfaces. A careful analysis of Fiske modes provides information on the junction quality factor and the relevant damping mechanisms up to about 400 GHz. Whereas losses due to quasiparticle tunneling dominate at low frequencies, the damping is dominated by the finite surface resistance of the junction electrodes at high frequencies. High quality factors of up to 30 around 200 GHz have been achieved. Our analysis shows that the fabricated junctions are promising for applications in superconducting quantum circuits or quantum tunneling experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure